The Bob is "Talk of the Town" (LLUMC Rehab) (video below)

Dear Friends and Family,
It's hard to believe that the Bob is in his 6th month of stroke recovery and although progress has been slow, it's also been steady and sure. Our first prayers were that God would grant him lots of little miracles that would add up to BIG miracles. Our biggest miracle was getting Shadi to move in with us and work with Bob all day long while I'm at work because that has made a huge impact on his getting extra intensive work.

Bob is the talk of the rehab center because his improvements are so dramatic! We see lots of stroke patients in rehab and it seems that we haven't seen anyone yet who's stroke is as devastating as Bob's is where the language, speech, legs and arms/hands are all so severely affected. Believe me, we look because we want to talk to others about recovery. Tom and Bonnie are the only others we know personally who have come back from deep brain injury, thank God. Anyway, the Bob's rehab "A-TEAM" (physical therapist Summer, occup. therapist Rachelle, and speech therapist Cynthia) are so encouraged and inspired by his progress because what they're seeing are consistent daily improvements and much faster than they anticipated. They are moved by the Bob's resilient spirit and his commitment to recovery and my oh my, they work hard and reset his goals because the man is having breakthroughs. Bob will be a guest at medical center's PT program.

Here are some of Bob's big changes. He:

• walks with a cane at home and in the community and is improving his form. He's starting to stand taller and look around and smile as he walks (we have to remind him but it's getting better)
• is strengthening his right leg and glut muscles
• is able to walk up and down the stairs (to and from our bedroom)
• is able to shower with only a little assistance over the step up in our upstairs bathroom (thank you for making that bathroom accessible, Jeff). He's independent downstairs, though.
• pushed a chair loaded with phone books back and forth the neuro-gym floor in therapy
• is able to lift and curl his toes 60 degrees on command (especially necessary to walk upstairs). In therapy, he is learning to walk in Tevas and flip flops. Yes, I said flip flops.
• is able to lift his right leg to put his pant leg on his right pant leg. This means that he doesn't have to roll on his back as often and lift his leg to dress now. Whoo-hoo!
• is learning to activate his shin muscles. Summer made him ride a stationary bike without taping his leg to the stirrup. He rode for 20 minutes . . . and got a shin splint. Ouch.
• is learning to activate his right bicep and tricep. He is learning to push his arm forward and back without assistance.
• is learning to lift his hand at the wrist about 15 degrees. OMG! His hand and arm are slowing but surely coming back!
• is slowly but surely combatting his apraxia. He's better able to follow multiple step directions with consistency and accuracy.
• is getting much better at retrieving words. His newest fill in phrase is "I don't know" and "okay" which we're trying to expunge and replace with other descriptors.
• has convinced his speech therapist (Cynthia) that he WILL improve by his consistent committment to learn and she's so excited by his improvements and is pulling out all stops to advance his recovery! Anyway, he's doing so much better at confrontational cueing (naming objects on demand which he couldn't do with better than 20-30% accuracy a few months ago.) Now, when she shows him pictures, he actually gives the latin or species name (for example, she shows him a picture of a monkey, and he responded, Madagascar macaqur or I asked him what a plant was (jimson weed/loco weed) and he said "datura mendotoildes?"). His therapist laughs and tells him, "Bob, I'm just a speech therapist, bring it down".
• is using strategies that Shadi and Cynthia have been teaching to "work or go around" when he can't find a word.
• is speaking more complete sentences. He's getting better at stringing the subject and verb and he tries with all of his might to hand on to the object of his sentences. We've learned that background noise and side conversations are very distracting so we don't frequent noisy places (restaurants). You have to be very patient and just wait and he'll try to talk. Jeff and Sonz are delighted because he's just started talking with them (beyond saying, "yes".
• told me the other night, "I am tired but I don't think I can make it up the stairs tonight". I almost fell off my chair with that compound sentence. Today, Josh called him and he had a full on conversation with Josh about the book Josh is writing. It was a slow and belabored conversation but OMG, it was a two-way conversation and I almost cried with joy.
• called Terry Taco (the Oregon out-law) to sing "Fight On, USC" today. Okay, the Trojans aren't doing so well right now. (Bob's watching the game.)

Bob turned 67 in September. This stroke has aged us both but hasn't dampened our committment to each other nor are we ready to give in the towel. I thank God every day for allowing Bob to be part of my life. He truly inspires me to be a better person and to be thankful for each day. I thank God for Shadi because her work with Bob is making hugh differences in his recovery. There is no way that what insurance covers would have been enough for Bob due to the severity of his stroke, but we're grateful for what we get and we're blessed to have a wonderful family. We know that his recovery will be slow but it's happening.

Please continue your prayers for Bob, for us. We need them! And please send cards (they've slowly trickled down to a few) or emails. He loves hearing from you and yes, he reads them. I read emails to him every night (although I don't respond) and I wish you could see the look of joy and peace on his face knowing that you keep him in your hearts. So, if you want to send him emails, send them to me at: scorkrum @gmail.com.

I'm back at work again and it's hard to be away from Bob all day but I know he's in good hands with Shadi, or Terri Taco or Rick (Gigi's husband) so I'm able to do my job. Well, it's time to say good night for now. Take care and let us hear from you, soon.

Warmly,

Sharon