This last month has been a sea of changes. Susie officially finished her therapy sessions at St. David’s Neuro Rehab. She had started physical, speech and occupational therapy around 9 months ago, after experiencing a pontine stroke. Her St. David’s therapists have been absolutely wonderful, which is an understatement IMHO. So much so, we were very sad to say goodbye to them. As it is now warming up, Susie is very happy to be saying hello again to our local YMCA swimming pool.
She’s even happier we have new glasses (with updated prescriptions) on the way. Alongside her occupational therapy, she underwent a surgical procedure using botox to help with the alignment of her left eye (strabismus). The change over the last six months has been quite dramatic, as can be seen in before and after photos:
We did a trip to Washington at the beginning of April, mostly to see universities with our youngest, which also included a brief family visit in Tacoma. The flight to Washington was a bit of a beast for Susie. It could have been the early morning flight to Seattle or that the seats were uncomfortable. I was using this flight as a test to see how Susie might do on a longer flight, specifically an international flight to visit friends/ family overseas. Unfortunately, I think we will need to splurge for business class, which is OUCH side of our budget! Having access to wheelchairs in and around the airport made our travel achievable. Without such assistance, the amount of walking would have been too much for Susie. I think she would have been happier to swim the longer distances.
Fortunately for us, Pearl arranged a wheelchair for our tour of Western Washington University (WWU). I was able to take Susie all over their campus, with a well deserved workout for myself. The campus and Bellingham bay are very beautiful. We got to visit with an UMA mother’s daughter who attends WWU. The temperatures seemed in-line with parts of the UK, so such a change will not be foreign for Pearl. Outside of UT Austin, all of the universities she applied to are in colder climates, so the cooler climate is obviously desired. My expectation is we will be saying goodbye for the Autumn term.
Lastly, today is tax day. For many, it is a day we procrastinate dealing with the US Internal Revenue Service. This day changed for me in 1998, after Fred and Susie’s mom married. As his birthday is today. He would have been 95, “We miss you Fred.”
