Still recovering

Willie Nelson he is not but since this country singer is one of Dale's favorites I have decided to use his image as an icon for this weeks experiences. As many of you know, Dale has been through a lot this last year and a lot of ups and downs. As I write this I recall many proud moments, not the least of which is the progress he has made in speech therapy. While his short term memory often remains illusive, the long term is often right o the money. Recently, I cleaned out the little pond we have in the back garden as it had stopped running and we both enjoy the sound of the water running through the old water pump and splashing below. After cleaning it still would not work so off I went to the hardware store to get a new one. Installed, it did nothing. However, Dale sent me to the big workbench in the garage to reset the outlet and shazam, the pump is working again. Because he has lost a lot I love it that he can feel like he is contributing in a real way.

He has gone from a feeding tube to a peg in his abdomen, from there to eating almost anything. I gave him an Ipad to use for memory issues. I am not sure he will admit it but he does really like using it to access the news, check his calendar for appointments everyday. In addition, it seems he enjoys a game of Angry Birds and a little solitaire a slot machine now and then.

Over the months since he finally came home we have had a pretty quiet household. Well, I should qualify that by saying he was quiet and I found myself turning into a little bit of a chatterbox perhaps trying to fill the void of silence. of course there was the television. tell me why do men have to watch five minutes of a program and move on to something else and later perhaps back to the first program, move on to... well you know what I mean.

In any case Dale's voice has been there but really soft these last months. A couple of days ago he had a surgical procedure that involved an injection into his vocal cords to hep them close when speaking and really important when swallowing. So the house remains especially quiet for this next week as he is not supposed to speak at all! Then two weeks of speaking softly. This is a temporary fix but hopefully with continuing speech therapy the cords will regain some of their strength and he will have that voice back again.

I know I have not posted for awhile, but I am busier than I ever expected to be. I am still working on Aunty Green and hope to share a little more progress in the next week or so. Then heading for Baltimore on the Prairie. Take care.