Bonnie continues to work with her physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech therapist.  Each has a different focus but all have the same goal which is to increase Bonnie’s strength, balance and independence with daily living activities.  To give a few examples of what Bonnie has been working on since she started at the rehabilitation center just over a month ago: getting dressed, swallowing safely & feeding herself, standing, balancing, transferring from sitting to standing to sitting again, and taking steps with a walker which at this point she is only able to do so with the physical assistance and supervision of her physical therapist not on her own yet.  Before Bonnie can progress to trying stairs, her balance and walking with the walker (both strength and duration) have to improve significantly.  At this point, stairs are not safely an option.  We continue to reiterate to Bonnie that her safety is the most important and we don’t want her to fall.  Bonnie has made progress with her swallowing and diet and is on mostly “normal” foods and thickened liquids to lessen her risk of aspirating.

Bonnie has had company during her time here and sure enjoys her visits from family & friends.  Many of our aunts & uncles have been able to visit her including Jenna, Donna & Steve, Mary & Tom and Wayne, our cousins Nichole and Mikki, Steve & 

McKenzie have all stopped in, and her good friend Carolyn came down and was even able to give her a haircut which felt so good to Bonnie.

Alex & I went with Bonnie to a neurology appointment this week where Bonnie’s MRI images were reviewed with the doctor and nurse practitioner.  Bonnie’s stroke affected different areas of her brain and the occipital lobe (vision) and cerebellum (balance) are two of the areas that have seen the biggest impact affecting her the most in her post-stroke recovering.  That being said, since transferring from Essentia and our last post, Bonnie has made significant progress and we are grateful for that.  At Essentia she was so tired and was not able to eat a regular diet or stand/get out of bed.  We remind her that although the progress may feel slow, she is so far from where she was two months and even a month ago.

Bonnie has a neuro-ophthalmology visit scheduled in early March which is just around the corner.  This will be a very important appointment as Bonnie’s vision has been significantly impacted by her stroke.  It is typical for those who have had stroke to have vision changes and to give it some time to heal prior to being seen which is why the appointment hasn’t happened yet.  We are really looking forward to the appointment and hope to be able to share good news after.

Thank you for your cards, your well wishes and for your continued prayers and support.  It’s so great to see Bonnie light up when we bring a card to her and read it.  You can really see her taking in your kind, heartfelt words and your encouragement means the world to her - and to us.