Sunday, May 6, 2018

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE THERAPY, BABY!

Sunday, May 6 - We remain here at the Bow & Arrow Campground in Yulee, Florida. We are just north of Jacksonville, Florida and about 20 minutes from Paul's brother, John, who lives on Amelia Island.

We arrived here on April 5, for a short visit with John, but on April 11, Marsha suffered a mild stroke. She spent a short time in the hospital but returned home to the 5th wheel soon after. She has been working hard at physical, occupational, and speech therapy, three days a week, on an outpatient basis. Her progress has been going well with only a minor set-back. She suffered through several days of exhaustion and even returned to the hospital emergency room for a check-up. There were no signs of another stroke, so it was assumed she was overdoing her rehabilitation or had come down with a minor virus. She needs to slow down and do some resting.

Marsha continues with her therapy and has an appointment with a neurologist on Tuesday, May 8. We are hoping that he will clear her to travel to our summer home in Ohio. We hope to depart on Wednesday. We are planning on taking three days, only traveling about five hours per day and will take the doctor's recommendation on what is best. We already have appointments with doctors in Ohio and will continue with therapy if necessary.

At physical therapy, Marsha spends the majority of her time on balance and strengthening her right leg.  She has numerous exercises she also does at home. 

marsha rehab

At occupational therapy, her goal is to regain her fine motor skills. She does eye-hand coordination drills, as well.  Regaining strength is a major goal.

marsha rehab

marsha rehab 

marsha rehab

She’s been focusing on her writing skills.  This is one of the area of the brain that was affected by her stroke.

marsha rehab

Adult coloring. Who would have believed? No Marsha! It was recommended as a great exercise for her fine motor skills.

marsha rehab

Loss of her typing skill is one of the hardest pills for Marsha to swallow. She actually taught personal typing in high school years ago. She is anxious to regain this ability as quickly as possible. She practices everyday for short periods. Her forearm just isn’t strong enough to do much more.

marsha rehab

Marsha uses therapy putty, containing small beads, as another fine motor skill exercise. It helps strengthen the fingers, as well.

marsha rehab

This is an unusual exercise called mirror therapy. The mirror image ‘tricks’ your brain into thinking that your affected arm is moving like your unaffected arm. Mirror therapy involves the use of a mirror to create a reflection of Marsha’s unaffected arm in place of your affected arm during therapy. Our sister-in-law, Chris, a nurse, said it gets great results. Here she uses her left hand to trick the mind into thinking she is putting the stones in the slot with her right hand.  She does this exercise for three minutes, twice a day.

marsha rehab

In speech therapy, she spends time on teaching lips, tongue, and throat how to make proper sounds. She learns how to use the diaphragm to make correct sounds. She has numerous mouth exercises to do and has made a notebook full of sentences to read out loud. Here she is reading the sentence out loud while watching how her mouth forms the words.

marsha rehab

So in summary, Marsha is working hard at therapy and has shown considerable improvement. She is in good spirits and is nearly back to the happy, passionate, warmhearted lady we all love.

We hope our next post will be from Canton, Ohio, and we'll include a picture of Marsha working in her flower garden.

marsha rehab

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you back soon.  Have a great day!

25 comments:

  1. Well, you just made my day! Thanks for sending out a progress report—I'd say Marsha gets an A++ for determination, dedication, and progress. It looks like a wonderful, comprehensive rehab program. I hope the coloring is fun!
    Marsha, you look GREAT! Keep up the good work, you both are in our thoughts and prayers every day. Looking forward to seeing photos of you in your garden!

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  2. Glad to hear Marsha is improving. We are looking forward to the next time we can meet up somewhere in this great country.

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  3. Continue to fight the good fight my friend.

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  4. Glad to hear how you are doing. So happy you are continuing to make good progress,just make sure you pace yourself.

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  5. Good news here, we are still praying regularly for full recovery. Hope to see you in Canton. Terry

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  6. This is so wonderful to see. Great job Marsha! Love and prayers to you!

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  7. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! Marsha, you look great and it is soooo good to see your smiling face again!! You have been missed!! I am so glad PT is going well and you are making great
    progress!!! Hearing this news has just made my day!!! Keep up the good work and hope we hear from you in Ohio next!! God is good and hears our prayers...praying for a complete recovery!!!!! Take care, my friend!!

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  8. Good to see you recovering! You might want to ask the therapists about exercises you can do at home with exercise bands. They are great tools. I have two sets. They work well in an RV because they don't add much weight nor take a lot of room. My exercises are all done while seated. Please, do remember, though, that muscle strengthening actually takes place during rest so the rest periods are critical.

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  9. It is so great to see your smiling face:) You certainly are working very hard. Doesn't seem like you have a moment to rest. Don't forget to take some down time, as well. You look wonderful! Hope the doctor agrees that you can travel back to Ohio next week. Keep up the good work!

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  10. Marsha, you are an inspiration to persevere through strenuous therapy that is challenging, redundant, and tiring. Your commitment to regain the ability to do the things you love is a testimony of your love of life for which you are known. Praying that you are released to travel back to Ohio where loved ones and friends are eager to support you and Paul in this journey. Pacing yourself is a new challenge to overcome, but remember that in both rest and therapy "you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you." Philippians 4:13 Praying, too, that you experience the victory that brings glory to God our Father.

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  11. Thanks for the update. Glad to see how well Marsha is doing.

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  12. Wow that is a amazing, was so concerned about her .I amnsure she will get back to her old self soon, Thanks for the update.
    Keep up the good work Marsha.

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  13. I was just thinking about you and wondered how things were going. You look great and it sounds like your recovery is going well. Hope you get to leave for Ohio this week. I'm sure you must be ready to go home and get back out in the garden!

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  14. Glad to read that Marsha is making improved progress and you will soon be heading to your Summer Home.
    Somehow missed the previous post. Did they determine what caused the stoke to avoid any further issues from occurring? You are both in our prayers.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  15. In the past two months we have heard far too many stories of friends who are ill, and two days ago had a good friend pass, so it was wonderful to read about the progress Marsha is making. Based on all Marsha is doing to heal, we can see how determined she is. I do agree with Pam that I hope she is also giving her body time to heal. Sending prayers for a full recovery and that soon you will be back home, where all the best healing occurs.

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  16. Prayers for a full and speedy recovery!

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  17. Oh goodness...thank you so much for a progress report.

    As determined as Marsha is, I know she will return to full form ahead of schedule.

    Here's to a happy summer in Ohio. . .

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  18. Keep up the good work girl. Looking great!

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  19. Looking good and strong. Glad you kept us posted. It is amazing how they figure out how to trick your brain.

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  20. Marsha sure is working hard to regain her strength. We wish her a continued speedy recovery. Thanks for sharing all her great progress.

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  21. She sure is working hard at it:) Hoping for full recovery very soon. Enjoy Ohio, it think it might actually have stopped snowing there by now:)

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  22. So happy to see Marsha doing so well. Therapy is key and it looks like she's diligent about it. Slow and easy and before we know it she'll be doing everything she used to do with as much ease as before. You go Marsha!

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  23. I don't feel that effort will be a problem with her recovery :-)

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  24. Keep up the good work Marsha but do it slowly and surely. We are rooting for you. And I hope by the time you read this you are already in Ohio, and already tending your flower garden.

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