Better and better all the time

The last few weeks have been great! I would go so far as to say Will's best weeks yet! Like I've said in earlier posts it is difficult to pin point Will's deficits right now because there are less and less of them all the time. His memory is reaching pre-stroke levels. He even remembers names (which he could not do a month ago).

Since we're too lesser detectable levels I hope to effectively communicate the improvements. Executive functioning. If you have followed this blog long enough you have read quite a bit about this topic. One of the highest levels of functioning that we have is the executive functioning... It does not fully develop until we are around 25 years old. That is why you'd have to constantly tell a teen to clean their room-- that functioning is not quite there yet. Well I have to admit I have felt very much like Will's mother at times-Will are you doing this, Will can you do this, etc. You'll be happy to know that I am less and less "motherly" all the time. I'll name some specific things he has done in the last couple weeks without my direct prompting. Will worked in my parents yard for hours on end getting it ready for my sister's wedding, he also helped move his sister up to her fiances home in time for her wedding this past Friday. Thursday he emptied out our storage closets to prepare to build shelves in there this next week. The past two weeks has applied for about 15 jobs, and he bought two new, very expensive ;) internal medicine books and has studied them frequently. He continues to write in his journal and read his scriptures everyday, again without prompting.

I hope Will's initiative the past few weeks will continue-- in the meantime we are calling June the month of "Detail." As a doctor you have to be very into detail so we're working on bringing this up to par. Will is being tasked each week with things that take a lot of planning and detail-- this week is building shelves in our storage unit on our balcony, he has never done this before but I'm sure he'll do fine. We'll post pictures of Will's projects in the coming weeks.

Last but not least Will's stamina is awesome-- we ran a sprint triathlon last week and Will came in a little after me, I'm a little better swimmer because of practice, else he would have beat me for sure. Will continues to be alert. He generally has around eight hours of sleep a night and only takes a couple of naps a week.

Above I've posted a picture from the triathlon and one from his sister's reception. We're doing great. I love Will with all of my heart. He is such a good man. One of Heavenly Father's choice sons. Keep reading and following the blog. We love your support and prayers.

Forging ahead

A lot has happened since last I wrote to you. I'll share some bad news-- but follow it up with good news;) Will and I spoke with Dr. Boes, the director over Will's residency program, Will cannot resume a residency until earliest a year from July 09. Before next July Will will need to take the occupational test and neuro psych test, which has been postponed from this month to later this summer. Will will then need to fly out to Ohio to do a month medical rotation then later 8-12 weeks of medical rotations. Once we have made it this far we can begin residency.

This direction came as surprise to us - however, the good news is that this new direction allows for more time for Will to heal and will result in greater chances of success. I believe that the Lord is watching over us. I know this additional time will prove to be the miracle we've been looking for. Residency is a steep climb even for a person without a brain injury.

Now for your brief on Capitol Reef. We loved it!! It was beautiful and relaxing. We hiked to the top of the world, enganged in dangerous battles with large Lizards, and then rested the night in a cabin, see photos above.

As for the next few weeks of our lives. We've got my sister's wedding this Friday and Will's sister's wedding in three Fridays. In two Saturday's we are doing a Triatholon at our local Rec center. Boy it's going to be a crazy few weeks. Talk to ya soon!

Summer

Dr. Appointments, Moab

We had our visit with Dr. Edgely this week, it was the first time Will had seen him since January. Dr. Edgely noted that Will had been unaffected by the 5 mg of Ritlin twice a day and so he increased the dosage to 10 mg twice a day to see if that had an affect. Next Dr. Edgely gave us the go ahead to start the ball rolling with a series of test in the next month to verify that he is ready to resume a residency. He put us in touch with the department that would schedule the career specific occupational test... I think that means Will will stay up 30 hours in the next month to show that he has the stamina he needs. Next we talked about the nuero psych test, which has been scheduled with Dr. Mayer for the end of May. Dr. Edgely seemed particularly interested in this one. He said he would look to it for the direction he needed to assess where Will was at in reference to returning to residency. The reason for this became clear as I asked Dr. Edgely to explain how his return to residency went after his stroke. Dr. Edgely said he was a little different than Will. Dr. Edgely's cognitive functioning was not affected. He needed to focus on speech and writing with his other hand. Will has to regain full cognitive functioning. I interpreted this as meaning there is less of an allowance to allot to Will because at the heart of being a physician is their ability to think (using a left arm or speaking clearly are relatively secondary). At this point Dr. Edgely turned to Will, put his hand on Will's shoulder and said, "Will you've got an uphill battle. But there are many, including me, that have full confidence that you will practice medicine." Lastly, I asked him whether we are doing these tests at the right time. Dr. Edgely confidently replied that it was the right time to test.

Will and I are looking forward to the outcome of the next month and a half. I know we are close and I'm guessing Dr. Mayer will tell us exactly how close we really are. Will is preforming at higher levels of cognitive functioning than I have seen in previous months. As always we solicit your prayers and support. In the face of this difficult time we acknowledge that God has all power in these matters, and nothing is impossible to Him. We've seen many miracles in Will's behalf and know we will continue to see the Lords healing hand. We continue to trust in His time table and feel lucky to have been so blessed in this recovery period.

Now onto the lighter part of the blog... Moab! Will and I took off to Moab Friday morning with our bikes and borrowed tent and coolers. Will had seen Delicate Arch but had not done a lot of actual mountain biking there. When we got there we discovered, after looking for two hours, that all of the campsites were full-- I guess there was some car show going on. By nightfall we were starting to get desperate, I imagined us sleeping in our car on the side of the road somewhere. In a last ditch effort I asked a camper if we could share his campsite. Thankfully he agreed and Will set up camp while I cut up vegetables for our tin foil dinners. We slept beautifully and woke up to towering red rock and a warm breeze. We had omelets for breakfast than took off to the Clondike trail for our climb to the top of the world. Above I've posted pictures of the climb and the top. We had so much fun. I am so glad Will shares my enthusiasm for the outdoors. We are headed to Capital Reef in two weeks to stay in a cabin with our friends there. I imagine we'll take our bikes and smiles then too.

The home stretch

There is nothing instantaneous about Will's stroke recovery. It comes back a bit at a time. The improvements are often so small that if you blink you miss them. But the good news is that they are still happening. I can name things Will can do this week, that he could not have done even last week, ie he made several three point shots in our basketball game this week, he is more alert and awake than he has ever been, he rarely takes naps. His study notes were much more thorough this week than they were the week before. He initiates twice as many activities than he did at this time a month ago. While we've prayed for the effects of the stroke to go away in a miracle moment, I believe the miracle has been what we have learned in the moments of great loss. We continue in faith and feel like we are on the home stretch. Keep Will in your prayers. He is almost there.

As for his daily schedule it remains pretty demanding. Shadowing, volunteering, keeping up in a new church calling as ward membership clerk, exercising every other day, writing in his journal every night, studying once a week with another resident, studying at the library, listening to his MKSAP CD tracks whenever he is in his car, and lastly attending to a very exhausting wife ;)

As for life. We love it. My 13 nieces and nephews all have a new best friend in their new uncle Will. He plays with them often and they cling to him. We play basketball Wednesdays and Saturdays and are still training for our triathlon in June. Will's swimming laps are a lot more consistent and he swallows less of the pool these days. As for Will's attitude, as you can guess it continues to be exemplary for someone in his situation. He never complains and smiles often. I am the luckiest woman in the world to be married to such an amazing man.

Will has his next appointment with Dr. Edgely a week from tomorrow, he has not seen him since January so we are anxious to hear where we are at with preparing for a "return to his medical career" test.

Summer

ps I've posted a picture that Will took of me during a basketball game and a picture I took of Will.

Grand Rounds and Grand Days

I'll start with a very vague sentence that would maybe make more sense if you were interacting with Will daily. "Will is really coming too lately." His clarity of speech, understanding, motivation, and problem solving are really starting to flow together. The complex melodies and chords in "Will's Symphony" are in tune and sound refined and brilliant. As a result- Will is initiating more activities and interactions with others, he is emailing, calling, and communicating more frequently and even our relationship is benefiting--the warm rays of spring are melting the winter worries of Will's recovery.

So I'll bring you up to speed on Will's progress. Will has been studying for Step 3 with another resident every Tuesday. Every Thursday he attends Grand Rounds at the University of Utah. It is fun as a wife to have married someone who didn't always "talk like a doctor" to now have a husband who "always talk's like a doctor" it's amazing to me what these residents know -- Will is brilliant!

We've also been in communication with Dr. Glascow in Ohio. She has instructed William to purchase MKSAP 14, Audio CD's that prepare him for Step 3 of the Boards. Will ordered the CD's online and received them today. Right now I am listening to the sound of the MKSAP CD downloading onto Will's laptop. Dr. Glascow is worried that Will will have a difficult time staying awake 30 hours, so if anyone in the sound of this blog feels free to pray for Will's stamina your prayers and support are always appreciated. We're convinced he will get there. And at the right time William will "run and not be weary and shall walk and not faint."

Will continues a pretty busy schedule of job shadowing a neuro surgeon Tuesday's and Thursdays' and volunteering at a Medical Charity Monday, Wednesday's and Fridays. In our spare time I beat him at basketball, raquetball and running, or maybe it is Will that takes the cake in these areas, I can't remember ;) We're healthy and happy and continue to be grateful for all of your support!

Sincerely,

Summer

p.s. above are pictures Will took of a couple of his sisters

Remember

If I had to label for each month in Will's recovery process this month would be labeled "Memory Recovery." It as been amazing to watch. Just like the old days Will is first to remind me of "this or that or weren't you going to do..." and so on. Other reports on the good news front are that Will has been pretty busy and not pretty tired as a result. I am used to running my husband to the ground than watching him recover/nap for the next few days. This has not been the case. Will keeps me going. In fact today, Sunday, instead of taking an afternoon cat nap Will was all gung hoe about taking pictures (see above). So if this blog post is incomprehensible blame Will for "running ME to the ground."

Let's bring you up to speed on the last two weeks. Lisa, Will's speech therapist, continues to be delightfully surprised with Will's remarkable progress from week to week. So much that she has scheduled the visits for every other week instead of every week. She believes he is doing a great job of keeping up with his "own" therapies. A few weeks ago Lisa asked me to correct Will often, and I mentioned to Lisa if our marriage survived her request to have me constantly nag him to say things again and again than our relationship would be indestructible in the end. So far so good ;) Will's mother said he spoke clearer during their weekly study period than he ever had before. She even went so far as to say that he spoke better than he had before the stroke.

Will and I played lots and lots of sports this week. Basketball twice with my brothers and "new brother in law to be," than on the other days we did racketball and swimming. I'd like to tell everyone that I beat Will at racket ball, because I was the one who taught him to play five years ago, but the rotten kid schools me every time.

Last but not least Lisa came back to me with another request this week. To be very articulate with Will's medical studies-- first off I can't even pronounce the words in the book and last off I don't know if he'll want to stay with me if I am his 24/7 therapist, so I deferred. I called in for reinforcement. Chris, a friend of mine, is a second year resident and has agreed to study with Will every week starting Tuesday. I'm convinced that it takes a community to heal a stroke victim and an amazing family to make each day brighter. We couldn't do this without all of you. Thank you! Thank you!

Sincerely,

Summer

The Perfect Weekend

This weekend we were given a wonderful opportunity to attend U of U's first annual PanVascular Summit at the Canyons in Park City. I worried that because of the duration of the classes Will would quickly fall asleep as I have seen him do in other similar settings... aka church ;) I was wrong. Will came alive this weekend. During the classes Will's eyes rarely closed, and he took notes without prompting. For me of course the classes were an entirely different language and every once in a while I would ask him what things meant and he would smile and quietly explain to me so I could keep up with the lectures (I was particularly interested in the lectures on PFO's). Will was on fire Friday, after the conference his medical knowledge seemed to have returned completely. He did not stumble in explaining to me the ventricles of the heart or the functions of the vessels, what a stunt is, etc... Later at my friends home Will asked questions and joked with them as if they'd been friends for years.

Today Will was wide awake in church and even got up and bore his testimony about his love for the Savior and the atoning sacrifice. I'm beaming to see his progress and thank you all for your prayers. It is as if we've been traveling up a steep mountain, exerting our energy for days on end with only the view of another rock and few scraps to account for the hard work. And when we thought we might faint from exhaustion, we pull ourselves over another rock and find breathtaking hills, mountains and valleys, the path ahead of us and behind us clear. I'm grateful for this time I've had to regain energy and hope for continued success.

Speaking of terrain, we've been out and about a lot lately. Above is Will on his new cross country ski's and a picture he took on a hike. Will bought a nice camera before his stroke, and it has been only recently that he has wanted to use it. Thank you again for all of your prayers and help in this continuing process.

Summer

ps Last week Will and I gave talks in church. Will spoke for 14 minutes, and everyone understood him. In fact many wept as they listened to him relate stories of faith, prayer, and continued efforts in keeping the commandments.