Anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary of my stroke. I have gotten this far with my family and friends! We still have a long way to go!!

Major accomplishment

I have been doing my arm lifts with my moms or sisters help. I found out that I can do it on my own! I have been doing my arm lifts for a total of one years straight!! And if I can do my arm lifts standing up, and it takes me one year, then so be it!

This year I have been accepted to the BYU speech clinic!

Encouragement

Today my therapists were very encouraging, particularly about my hand and my arm. I go to therapy hoping that someday I will be healed. But I can't see it, but my therapists can see it. It was a good day, but it was a good day because my therapist made me feel like I was going in the right direction! And to keep it up!

It was my brother's birthday! I am so proud of him! 

     

Bloopers

I do like to beat up on Shane - not really! 

I had my leg on Shane's chest, I was stretching. And I kicked him in the ear! (unfortunately this video is not working right now).

I was balancing on a ball with my right foot, and I lost my balance and I put my hand on his head!

School makes me really nervous....

November 4, 2013

Dr Fong let me know that summer was the time to start auditing a class and if everything looks ok then I can start fall semester. I'm not ready right now but six months from now she thinks that I will be ready. I don't know it makes me nervous to think that I could be ready...

November 9, 2013

My goals this week will be to do all of my speech homework everyday; next I will find out why my Bioness is making my hand numb; and I will work on my steps being a 1/4 of a inch shorter.

I will make my goals shorter because I was thinking that it will be so far away... But every step closer that I take to my goal means that I will make my goal! 

Our appeal for therapy!

We have some great news! We appealed multiple times to have our insurance grant coverage for more therapy. Each time they said no. In the morning we were about to go up to Salt Lake and meet with them in person. About the time we were getting ready to leave, we received a phone call, where the insurance said that as a one-time event they would grant the additional therapy sessions like we wanted. We are greatly that we were so persistent in this process and that Heavenly Father is still looking out for us. It's going to be a tight schedule getting all of these appointments scheduled before the end of the year, but that is overshadowed by the extreme blessing that it is.  So I'll be working hard until the end of this year! 

General Conference

Elder Dube talked about never looking back but looking forward; to me it means don't look back to last year I will only be disappointed. But only look forward to today, like when I walked up stairs like normal or my next therapy session, or tomorrow went I get to go to the last session of general conference. 

The Three Injured Amigos

I realized this week that I can move up on my toes! It doesn't sound like I am really excited but I am! I am just focusing and trying to see results! I realized at church I am in a group of three injured amigos; the first is my mom: she has a bone in her right foot that is crumbling; the second is my brother Ethan, who sprained his right knee as he was practicing football; and my right side is still healing. My mom and Ethan will be healed pretty easy I will take longer! My brother is a goofball.

You will notice the crutches for Ethan, the handlebars for Mom's scooter and then you know about me!

My New Haircut!

My memory of my hair

We weren't in ICU anymore but we couldn't go to the rehab center. I realized that my hair was failing out. I couldn't talk but everyone know that my hair was falling out. That was a tragic experience for me; before everyone got there in the morning I was crying trying to understand why this had to be so hard. I can still look back, and I am weeping as I still don't why it is so hard. From February until September 19, it took me seven months to almost get back all that I had lost!

Good news is that I had a hair cut today, a very very short one. There are pictures of the before and after, plus in the process! 

'Tis a New Month

It is a new month and a new time to reflect on some things.  Chris and I have completed the move into my family's home.  We accomplished it all within two weeks’ time, which was our intent because the fall semester was going to being again at UVU.  Chris received a nice scholarship to essentially cover all expenses for 2 semesters.  It is going to be quite an adjustment to downgrade from our apartment to a studio and a new lifestyle.  At the same time, it presents a great blessing because we can save some money and it will allow me to continue recovery.  All in all, it’s not that bad of a setup.

I have had some difficult nights lately, even to the point of almost screaming in frustration and slamming my left fist down.  It is because I cannot do anything about it.  With my fingers, with my foot, with my inability to speak – if only it was my ability to speak that was impaired I would be more grateful, but it is not.  

Grandma Johnson’s funeral was yesterday.  It was a magnificent ceremony and experience.  Grandma Johnson was so beautiful in her casket with the sacred temple robes on her.  The services were nice, wonderful tributes were given and a Samoan choir participated as they had for my grandpa’s services.  She now is resting by her husband in the Orem cemetery, but her spirit is now reunited with her husband in the spirit world.  Something that I laugh about is that, when getting up to pay respect to her before they closed the casket, I forgot to turn on my Bioness leg device.  So I walked completely under my own power.  I pointed this out to Chris when we got back to our seats!

Here is a Bioness video like I promised.  I am using it more and more each day.  I feel that the devices are helping me – but I cannot get it to work without having my Nike shoes on.  That is frustrating because I want to be able to wear other kinds of shoes!