Well, I hope the weather where you are is better than it is here. The local weather peeps said the Boston area wasn't going to get all that much snow, but the foot I shoveled when I got home from work sure felt like a lot!
Dad is having a good week. I understand he had lunch with some of his cousins earlier this week. And Mom's sister, Fran, arrived on Tuesday for a visit. Sounds like everyone has been enjoying themselves so far. Today Dad started outpatient speech and physical therapy at the local wellness center. He seems to like the therapists he'll be seeing. Some good news on the physical therapy front was that he had his left shoulder x-rayed, and they don't see any tear or damage to his rotator cuff. He's had shoulder pain for a long time and tried to ignore it. They started working on it when he had PT to help him get stronger walking, and thought he may have torn the rotator cuff in the past. But it looks like it's just arthritis. Good to know it's not really damaged, but I don't know how much they'll be able to do about the arthritis. Maybe with some anti-inflammatories they can get it moving a little better. It's been a bit of a problem since his right side does have some weakness, so he's been relying on his left arm and leg more.
For his speech therapy, Mom sat in and listened to his session to get an idea of how we can best help Dad when he's not at therapy. I don't remember if I wrote it last time, but his neurologist says he has anomic aphasisa. Here's a link to a wikipedia article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomic_aphasia
So, basically he can usually look at an item and tell you what it does or what it's used for, but he can't find the name. It's seems to be similar with people. He knows who people are, but he can't put the right name with the face. The other day I heard him telling Mom that the dog wanted some mosquitoes. I'm fairly certain he meant treats, but I have no idea where mosquitoes came from. Sometimes it sort of makes sense; the word he comes up with can be related to what he's trying to say, but it's just a little off. Other times, like the mosquito reference, he's way off. He probably saw a mosquito and the word got stuck in his head. Overall, he can usually get his point across, but sometimes he gets pretty frustrated. I can only imagine how hard it must be to know what you want to say but not be able to say it.
Aunt Fran was nice enough to take a picture of Mom and Dad for you all. This is from earlier today, while they were all enjoying an afternoon by the pool:
Wish I could have been there to take it myself instead of having to shovel!
Have a great weekend!
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