Thursday, April 30

We have added another component to Tommy's daily physical-therapy sessions: A pair of five pound free weights. After Tommy pedals (usually for about six minutes), walks with the walker (eight or ten "laps" across the porch, sometimes more), and pulls the arm exerciser that is mounted on the wall (50 pulls), we do arm lifts together. Ten lifts per arm, each a lift of only several inches, is enough right now; but it's a start. Yesterday we had dinner with our friend Frank at the Crabcake Factory, and this weekend we will share a potluck meal with Mary and Al, our friends from Ren rehab. And with the spring weather, we have been enjoying the back deck with Irv and Patti. These are good days.

Tuesday, April 21

The news on Tommy's CT scan is fairly good. Dr. Raj says that there appear to be small gall stones obstructing some flow in the bile ducts. Tommy's elevated liver numbers may be caused by these gall stones (which might disintegrate on their own); or the elevated numbers may be caused by one of the medications Tommy was taking, Gemfibrozil, which Dr. Raj discontinued several weeks ago. In six weeks, Tommy's blood will again be tested, and if his liver panel hasn't improved, he will probably need to see a surgeon.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

"You didn't know you were gettin' hung up with a river rat, did you?" These were Tommy's first words to me this morning when I poked my head into the bedroom to see if his eyes were open. It's still true, after all these years, that Tommy has the most colorful language of anyone I've ever gotten "hung up" with!
It's been a good week and a bad week. On the good side, Tommy is walking up a storm on the back porch--yesterday he set a new record of 12 laps (each lap is a trip from one end of the porch to the other, with walker and Connie). On the bad side, Tommy's second blood test again indicated elevated numbers in his liver panel--in particular, the alkalyne phosphatase and the GGT--and when those numbers are elevated, the most likely cause is some kind of obstruction in the bile ducts (such as gall stones, or a tumor, or scar tissue). Consequently, Dr. Raj ordered a CT scan, and I took Tommy for that on Friday; so we should hear tomorrow from Dr. Raj whether we're any closer to solving that mystery.

Saturday, April 11

Last week Tommy was discharged from outpatient physical therapy, so now Tommy and I do daily therapy sessions on the back porch. He has the same basic routine that he had in outpatient therapy: arm exercises and eight minutes on the pedal exerciser, followed by "laps" back and forth on the porch using the walker. Twice this week we met friends for lunch at local restaurants, and we get out for errands every afternoon. He has up days and down days, but overall he continues to improve in his "don't want to rush into anything" way.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

It's drizzling and cold on this, the first day of April, as spring flirts with winter and Tommy continues to progress slowly but surely. He still goes to physical therapy three times a week, where he rides the stationary bike, walks back and forth along the "kitchen counter" and walks with his walker with Jenna at his side. On sunny days we spend a lot of time on the back porch, where Tommy watches the ugly houses go up across the creek with his binoculars or snoozes on the couch. On Monday, he saw Dr. Raj, who said that Tommy's lab work from last week shows continuing improvement except for a spike in his liver enzymes. This appears to be a result of one of the drugs Tommy has been taking (Gemfibrozil), so Dr. Raj discontinued that drug and Tommy will have some more blood drawn next week to see if there is an improvement. If not, Dr. Raj will send him to a specialist. For the first time, Tommy was able to step up onto the scales, with help from the nurse and myself, and he now weighs 156 (his weight was more than 200 when he had the stroke). Dr. Raj says that is a good weight for him. I knew that Tommy had lost weight, but when I'm getting clothes for him I still have to remind myself that he no longer wears size XXL shirts!