4/29/2008 … ONE YEAR

On Tuesday April 29th, Kat hit the one year mark of her stroke. That day we revisited the events in our minds and verbalized some of our feelings of that day. Then reflected on the twelve months since that day … WOW! what a reflection. Kathy and Mike both saw a deepening of our relationship as a married couple (we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on April 2nd) as well as a deeper walk with the Savior who died and gave His life for us. We also saw a Savior who loved us by providing both in the area of hope and finances.

Circumstances that were in place during this time were also within God’s loving hand. Mike was at home when the stroke became manifest. Pete was in between jobs so he could provide stability in the home with Mom and Dad gone (and Grandma for little Brent). Mike had been on the job for one year so he could tap into personal and vacation time afforded him by his work. Many friends from God’s family (the Connection, New Hope Fellowship, Rumney Baptist, and loving individuals at the Conference Center) provided help with food, cleaning, special gifts, etc. We saw a great helping hand from Kat’s own family as they had just buried Dad Savage less than six month’s earlier. Kat’s hardship became their hardship and they lovingly came around her and Mike and the boys during this time. We still receive help with rides to therapy sessions and family events when Mike is unable to take her due to his work schedule.

One year affirmed that Jesus Christ and His family are faithful! Life would be much more difficult without the King of kings on our side!

The pictures below show Kat at her one year mark … cooking at her stove in her home. She walks around her house usually without a cane and sometimes even carries a cup of hot tea in her hand as she walks to her living room chair. She has even carried her meal aound, too, proving her balance is slowly returning. She refuses to slow down or even give up. The next picture is Kat and some of her family at her mom’s 90th birthday celebration on the anniversary of the day Kat was transfered from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH to HealthSouth Rehab Hospital in Concord, NH. Interestingly, the celebration was held at a favorite resturant in Concord!

More updates to come as more is happening in this the beginning of Year Two … so keep hooked up!

 

 

Going Down and Stuck Up

Admittedly, it has been a while since the last post here … sorry. Much has occured as Kat’s Journey is coming close to 1 year (April 29th). Once again, both OT and PT has been suspended as a few special factors are in place. Seemingly, the 2nd round of Botox treatments have had little effect on Kathy’s arm and hand. Her leg, though is seeing improvement. Because there is a maximum insurance payout for Therapies … the therapists felt it better not to use it up too soon or until the hand showed less tone. Also, a cast was taken of her leg and a new brace with a hinge was made to improve the drop foot she has been experiencing. There is a marked improvement in her walk with the brace. She didn’t wear it today, though as she had welts due to rubbing around the calf when she walked a long distance the day before. So let’s examine the progress so far (or since the last post):

1. On March 11th she had the 2nd Botox treatment. We saw little improvement with her hand but some improvement in the knee, hamstring and foot.

2. On a Friday (about 3 weeks ago in late March), Mike came home from work and noticed the basement light was on and the door open (something that bugs Mike for reasons we won’t get into). He figuered one of the boys did it so he went to close the door and kill the light. What he found though was a shock >>> KAT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS (count: 13 steps!)! Mike asked, “What are YOU doing down there?” and Kat replied, “This is my 2nd time down here!” Up to this point she had only walked up and down a few stairs (like our entry steps which is three). Since then, she’s been GOING DOWN the cellar quite a bit, to do laundry and investigate items down there!

3. The ice in the roadways has finally disappeared so she is walking more often outdoors especially to pick up Brent after he gets off the bus. Some of the muddy areas have been a challenge, but she is doing so well!

4. Kathy has been doing much better with putting on here jackets and zipped sweat shirt. Many times Mike will go help her and sees she’s done it by herself already!

5. On Monday, April 21st, Kat returned for her 6 week check up with Dr. Cohen the neurologist who administers the botox. He decided to leave her leg as it was and concentrate on her arm and hand. So she got STUCK UP in a number of spots on her arm. By the way, For the first time Kat walked to and from the parking area instead of being left off at the entry doorway at the hospital. It was with this long walk that her leg received the welts.

Most likely our next post will be on the anniversary of Kat’s stroke as we relect on 1 year. So stayed tuned … the journey goes on!

Stuck Again!

On Tuesday, Kathy returned to DMHC for her next round of Botox injections. She has had some more therapy since then and she is doing very well. The PT has asked for her to walk around the house without her cane which she’s been doing. It takes a great deal of concentration but she does it!

Her arm is advancing but still has no real strength or use of the left hand yet. She is able to move her wrist some which is new. We are grateful to the Lord for what He’s doing thru her!

We are still in the ice bowl here but warmer days are helping the snow to sink some but we’ll be looking at ice/snow for a long while.

We are thankful for your prayers and good wishes. May our God bless you all. Come back for more on her journey!

Stormy Days Continue

 Kat … growing stronger every day!

 Mike’s Parent’s home in Rumney

As I write we are under yet another threat of a 8-15 inch snow event. It has been snowy steady since around 2:30pm and it is 8pm right now. The road and walkway to our house is getting smaller and smaller. There are warnings of roofs weakening because of the weight of snow, ice and wet. A business that just closed a few months ago had it’s roof collapse. Even the roof at Mike’s work has been showing signs of bending iron in the shop and at another portion of the store … the local fire dept has inspected it and so we still go to work!

 Kathy in the pool

Kathy had quite a morning as it began with arm work with the OT at 8am and pool therapy at 10am. She was tired by noon time as you can imagine. Since Brent is off school this week, he saw Grandma at work with OT and then the pool. He just stayed for a few minutes at both but enough to see what his Grandma goes through. Grandpa took him to the dollar store and that made his day. Later we went to Laconia for some lunch and food shopping. By the time we drove home, both Brent and Kat fell asleep all the way to the house.

As you can see, we’ve been able to upload pictures from Mike’s cell phone and post theme here … ENJOY!

Come back soon … 

Back to Basics

Yesterday, Kat returned to her pool therapy after she cancelled the day before due to an ice storm. And then after her hour in the pool she came home for about an hour and then climbed back in the van to head out for her ‘return to basics’… namely, Occupational Therapy. She hadn’t been to OT for four months. The Botox treatments is what started this again.

When Kathy went yesterday, her therapist was amazed at what she was able to do with her arm and is encouraged at what will take place in the weeks ahead. This is awesome news and a great encouragement to Kat.

Thanks for your prayers and good wishes. We’ve received some of your valentine emails and we are grateful! God bless you all.

MORE NEWS

On Monday, we picked up the mail and found that Social Security had approved Kat’s request for disability benefits. This is a real answer to prayer as we’ve been without the added income since the stroke in late April. We were amazed as we were told by others that SS Admin usually denies disability but later approves it after an appeal. Thank our God that we avoided any denial!

The journey goes on! Come back soon …

The Day After …

Shortly after we got up, and again school was delayed due to the storm, Kathy began to complain that she wasn’t feeling well. We checked her BP which was a little high and we began calling down to Dr. Cohen and ARNP Robin Clark down at Dartmouth. She finally got through to all. Robin felt her headache by her right eye and seeing light-flashes were not an indication of another stroke. She wanted her to get rest after eating toast and tea (as Kat felt nauseous) and call her back in a few hours.

Brent got off to school and when Pete came home from lunch he picked me up at the local garage where I left the van to get the coolant leak fixed. Kat was fast asleep and so I fell asleep too. I called out from work as I was getting ready to take my wife to the emergency room if we didn’t get answers soon. Seems I needed the rest too. We called Robin back at around the 3-hr mark and Kathy just spoke to her about 20 min ago. She was very reassuring. The feeling is Kathy got a virus/bug — probably at the hospital.

After some soup and tea, she’s feeling much better. So there’s not much yet to report about treatments ao far — we know that the episode Kat had was not a reaction to Botox.

Keep in touch … more to come!

She Got Shot!

…with Botox, that is! Yes, we made the long trip to Lebanon in a storm and with a vehicle that lost it’s heater!

The trip was long due to the storm and breakdowns. The Caravan needs new tires so it trudges along slipping and sliding until it hits sand or bare ground and moves along well. Because the rain turned to sleet and eventually snow with the poor tires, we decided to avoid hills and drove to VT’s I91. We stopped twice along the way to put in antifreeze as we were over-heating and lacking heat. A normal less than an hour trip took us over 2 hrs to make.

Kat got her treatment and the nurse was excited to receive the note we got from the insurance company which approved the treatment! She called the note the “golden document” as she took it to copy. She told us to frame it when we got home!

The trip back was a bit better as the storm wound down to just cloudiness. Tim had to saty home with Brent as they called school off in anticipation of the storm. As I write, it’s now a day later the storm they we forecasting for Wednesday, actually began about 9pm and by 7am there was a load of plowable snow all around. So the only issue with the trip was the bad roads (frost-heaves) and the antifreeze loss. The car is in the shop now.

Thanks for your prayers and concerns. We await how she will react to these treatments. The journey goes on, come back and join in!

Good … no, GREAT NEWS!!!

In picking up today’s mail while Kathy was at her pool therapy session, we received the news we’ve been waiting for: the insurance company will cover Kat’s Botox treatments! Ours and your prayers are being answered! The great song by Chris Tomlin comes to mind, “How Great is our God”! Yes, our God is great and so good!

So it will be us heading out tomorrow (well, actually later this morning - as it’s a little past midnight as I write) to go to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. Pray for our traveling as the forcast is for more snow (up to 8 inches may be dumped on us with possible icy conditions mixed in). We woke up today to around a half-a-foot and school delayed for Brent, then called off altogether. It may be a repeat tomorrow. These poor kids may be going to school into July! What a winter we are having.

Thanks again for your prayers on our behalf - both in the past and the days ahead. Journey on in His strength, power and might! See you soon!

Side Stroke and Walking on Frozen Water

Kat has defied just about every obstacle one can encounter with the situation she has found herself in these past 9 months. Yes, I said nine months! So much has happened since I last wrote so here goes … I’m going to list the items first and then make a few comments afterward:

• She has walked in the pool without holding on to anything
• She has put on her snow-boots and has walked outside by herself in the winter elements (snow and ice)
• She has climbed into her brother’s van and sister’s SUV with a stool (and took a ride in our pickup last week by stepping up on our large wood snow sled we use to cart wood into the house)
• She has put on special ice cleats to walk outside on the icy spots
• She swam in the pool doing the side stroke with her good arm and kicking both legs
• She walked into a restaurant without her cane or walker — just simply holding my arm and did the same the last time we went shopping at Wal-Mart

WOW, her progress has been amazing! I am absolutely proud of her.  It is apparent the pool therapy is helping her balance tremendously. Our son Pete has some weights (dumbbells) and he had them on his bed when she went to lay down there to watch some TV, she moved them … as she was standing not holding onto anything but lifted them up and crouched placing them on the floor — keeping her balance! One of her therapists who came to our home back in June, saw her at the Aquatic Center where she goes for pool therapy and was marvelling at her just walking in toward the pool area at how well she was moving. Kat’s strides and steps have been longer and brisker since she’s been in the pool!

There is more news to tell!

I want to show you a picture of our dishwasher in the Tremblay home 

Ha! Ha! Well, sometimes it’s not so funny … 4 guys trying to keep up with cooking and dish/pot cleaning! Yes, even Brent has helped. But it can be overwhelming. Kat’s brother, Ken (who’s a plumber) acquired a like-new dishwasher and said he would make sure it was good and in working order then he would put it in our house.  Kathy was getting anxious about it (she has on many occasions been up at the sink, too helping with that task) but remembered the verse in Philippians where it says, “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”(4:6 NIV)  That very next Saturday, Ken and David (his son) came to the house and began the process of installation. So check out how we do dishes NOW! 

 AWESOME! Thanks, Ken!

Prayer works, because Kathy cried out to our God again, and Dartmouth Medical Center has set up Kat’s Botox treatment for Wednesday, February 6th! We are still praying because the insurance has been dragging their feet so we are trusting our God for His provisions if insurance somehow doesn’t come through.

The journey continues, God is leading the way — Kathy is improving and new stuff is occurring almost weekly (at times daily)! We give Him glory and praise … come back again for the Botox update.

Update with Pictures

 Kat visiting her first SNC Gathering after her return home from HealthSouth (September 2007)

 At Funspot with Brent (in background) (August 2007)

 Facepainting at FallFest (October 2007)

 Christmas fun - walking around the light display in Enfield, NH (LaSalette Shrine, Nov. 2007)