Day 10, Sunday

Joanie's email: "joaniecarle "at" gmail.com (I'm beginning to go through the blog & read emails with her)

Praise God! When I was in hanging out with Joanie, I asked her to again move her thumb and first two fingers of her left hand. It's a new trick she's been working on. Just for fun, I asked her to try to move her ring finger and little finger. With careful thought and similar movements on the other hand, she did! We were amazed and delighted. Next I asked her if she could move her left wrist, something she's not been able to do since the stroke. She could and did. You can imagine what we tried next--she can also move her elbow and shoulder some. Her left arm tends to hang uselessly at her side but I imagine that as she continues to have therapy they will have her moving it at will. She can't wait to see her OT & PT to show them her progress.

She is able to get out of bed, walk to the bathroom, brush her teeth and other tasks. I almost sounds like she's ready to come home but she still has a lot of hard work ahead of her. When she speaks, she is beginning to sound more like herself. She's been talking in a monotone and that's also improving.

Yesterday Joanie was unusually tired and somewhat lethargic in the morning. Her phone rang so many times and Joan was so tired that they finally unplugged it. Troy, our son, and Brenda, her sister were frustrated that they were not able to get through to her until afternoon.

I started to read our blog to her and she's learning many things about her hospital stay and progress. I'm also sharing some of her emails with her. It is also frustrating to see my writing errors--words left out, spelling, etc. Joanie said I should blame it on the cat. The cat so misses having Joanie's lap to sit on in the evening that sometimes she tries to get on my lap when I'm typing and puts her paws on my arm.

Joanie reminded me yesterday that she's been wishing she'd married "Lance Smith". She has trouble saying "Carle" and gives it two syllables. She knows it and it frustrates her. I am optimistic that she will again learn to pronounce our name!

A friend of hers, Ben Roy, sent the following quote: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
Albert Einstein.