A BLURB

Many challenges remain.  Progress is slow.  Overall Renee has certainly made improvements.  As of last Thursday (August 26), it was one year since her third and most damaging stroke. As of this coming Friday, she will have been home for two months.   As of this coming Friday, we have decided to discard the "homebound" status and transfer to outpatient therapies.  This is due to her progress, being a bit more independent, walking more steadily, improvements like mostly able to dress herself.  It is also to enable getting out of the house and doing more of the usual things she did in the past...like go to a restaurant, meet friends at the bakery, go shopping, visit others at their homes rather than them having to come here.  Another step forward and hopefully a boost for Renee to experience a more normal life.

We traveled to Mpls last week for a followup with seizure neurologist and a few hours of EEG monitoring.  The results were optimistic in that no additional seizure activity was noted and the current seizure medication and dosage is not in need of change.

We met with Dr. Fischer at Fischer Eye Center in Willmar yesterday.  Renee is tentatively scheduled for first cataract surgery/lens implant on 9/22 with second eye about two weeks later.  It is hoped that this will help Renee see better and assist with improving reading ability.

We have been getting rain finally.  Unfortunately last Friday a severe storm dumped some hail along with the rain.  We were lucky it was only nickel/dime size (not the baseball size ones from 20 miles west of us).  It was enough to shred much of our garden...especially the rhubarb...looks like a herd of cows ran thru it.  I had to climb onto the roof to remove sticks and globs of shredded tree leaves.  While up there, could not detect any damage to our shingles...we do need new shingles in next few years but no help from the insurance company this time.  Renee gets more worried about storm warnings than she would have before her stroke, so we have been spending more time in basement when these events occur.

I guess those are the highlights.  Stay safe.

Paul