Happy May! It is crazy to think that later this month will mark 1 year since Dave has come home from rehab. We just recently passed the year and a half mark since Dave's stroke and it's hard to believe it's been that long. We've been kept busy with therapy and home exercise that a year seems to have passed in a blink of an eye almost. Since my last update, Dave was discharged from UMROI, having met the majority of the goals originally set at the start of his time there. We are still not seeing much independent movement on the left side so they didn't feel like there was a lot they could do with walking retraining. So we've had a couple of weeks off from weekly appointments, focusing on our at-home exercises, while we transition back to the VA for physical therapy. Dave has an appointment with PT later this week and towards the end of May for OT back at the VA. We will hopefully be able to get some permanent shower equipment from the VA. We recently got a shower chair from the Maryland Re-use program so we've been able to give Dave a real shower a couple of times so far and I know it feels much better than the bed baths we've been doing, but it takes some time and energy so it's not a daily task we are doing yet. But I know it will only get easier as we do it more regularly, just as everything else has so far. 
Dave had his second round of botox injections almost two weeks ago and the doctors were pleased with the results from the first round. He kept a lot of the range of motion he gained from the first round in his shoulder, so they were able to redistribute the botox a bit and aimed a bit more in the fingers to help them loosen more. We'll see how this next round goes over the next couple of weeks. It's a bit of trial and error in the beginning to see what the right combination of injections is, and we'll have a follow up with the doctor in June on this and then another round of injections towards the end of July. 
All went well at the optometrist and Dave's eyes look good, no issues there so the left side neglect is just a result of the stroke. The genetics test came back negative, so no real answers there as to the cause of the stroke but at least no concerns were found either. We'll follow up with the genetics team in a year or two and his sample will be run again as things are always changing in this field as they learn more so perhaps something will show in the future, but for now, no concerns. 
We have an outing planned with Wounded Warrior Project later this week as well, an adaptive sailing trip in Annapolis so we look forward to that fun experience. Fingers crossed for nice weather as spring in Maryland can be so unpredictable! 

We thank you all for the continued prayers and support in this journey. We truly couldn't do it without you and are so lucky to have so much love surrounding us.
-Jamie