One year ago today at about 7 PM David had a stroke.

After a year his improvement has slowed down to where his therapy has been cut back. Though he will continue improving for years, where he is at now is pretty much where he will continue to be. He can barely shrug his right shoulder and when he does he can only do about once or twice. Because of the possibility of silent aspiration, Dave's food needs to be what is called minced and moist which means his food needs to fit through the tines of a fork and his liquids need to be thickened. He is still incontinent. He doesn't usually remember all of the steps needed to stand up, which puts him at risk for falls. He does walk very well with the walker which has a platform for his right arm to rest on. I do not need to hold onto his gait belt while he walks with the walker.  He is improving with the cane but still at risk of falling when using it and needs to have someone hold onto the gait belt. His aphasia is still quite severe. He seems to understand most of what is said to him, but still doesn't remember names. He remembers my name about half the time. He will string together many words but they do not make sense. If I repeat some of his words, he will think it sounds correct. I don't think he realizes that he will never be the same as he was before. One day he said to me, "I didn't used to be like this". Neither of our lives will ever be the same.