Tag Archives: Stroke Journey

Recovery-Part 5

26 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I must also tell you about the people who did the cleaning.  The rooms are cleaned every single day.  Those ladies in pink really do their job and do it well.  Of course, the CNA’s wash the residents (they help with showers, too) and change the bed linens every day, and the linens are taken away and cleaned every day as well.  One cleaning lady stands out – Shalena.  She was quite industrious in her cleaning, and was always up for a good joke or story.  One day, she was cleaning Fred’s room as we took one of our walks.  The floor in his room was still damp when we returned, so I told Fred we would walk a bit more. 

 Then I told him to keep walking, and I went back and told Shalena the story about the policeman who called his Captain and told him he was going to arrest a lady who shot her husband.  When asked why she did that, he said “she had just mopped the floor, and it was still wet, and he walked on it.”  When the Captain asked if he had arrested her yet, he replied “no.”  “Why not?”  “The floor’s still wet.”  Shalena;s laugh could be heard clear down the corridor!

Sometimes there were two men who cleaned and mopped the corridor floors that were not carpet.  I believe they were both from the Islands, as they would always greet me with “Good Morning, Mama.”  I loved that!

As Fred and I took our “walks” around the corridors of the facility, I would look at so many of these people – residents – and my heart would ache for them.  Many of them never leave their beds.  Almost all are confined to a wheelchair or walker.  This has become their home, and I seldom see any visitors for many, many of them.  Someone told me that some of them had just been “deposited” there by relatives, then forgotten.  So I made it my mission to help as many of them as I could to let them see that someone actually SEES them as people, and give them a wave and a smile.  Some have taken a while to smile back and perhaps wave, but most of them are getting there. 

As I mentioned, Fred and I take “walks” down the corridors of the facility, giving him some “exercise” and a way to get out of that room for a bit.  He’s still in a wheel chair, but he actually does the “walking” by pulling himself along with his feet.  I encouraged him to do that after I saw many residents doing just that.  Unfortunately, I never could get him to use his hands on the large wheel of his chair, as he said it was too painful.  I may have my hands on the hand grips of the chair, but he’s doing the work – I just guide occasionally.  So, in our walks, as we pass the residents rooms, many who are in bed.  If they are awake, I will smile and wave at them, and they will usually smile and wave back at me.  I like to think I’m bringing a little sunshine into their lives.  One resident is usually in her bed – only occasionally have I seen her in a wheelchair – and her name marks her Vietnamese.  It took me a while to get her to smile and wave at me, but every once in a while she will smile and put her hands together in Asian greeting.  Beautiful.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Recovery-Part 2

5 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Fred was in the hospital for nearly a week, then transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for two weeks.  I was quite pleased with the care he received in both facilities, and a little leery of moving him to another facility, but it was necessary.  Fortunately, he is in a facility (actually a nursing home with an excellent reputation for their therapies) that has done wonders with his therapies, all three – physical (PT), occupational (OT), and speech therapy.  He has made such great progress, especially compared to where he was at the rehabilitation hospital that I am amazed.  He is walking – with help.  He has more motion and control over his right arm and hand, and his cognitive function is improving daily.


But believe it or not, the main purpose of this posting is not to talk about Fred’s strokes and recovery – amazing as that is, but to talk about some of the people we encountered at this facility.

Two of the first people we met were the nurses on duty that day, one of which was Fred’s nurse.  She is a lovely lady from Germany, which drew us instantly, since we lived in Germany for six years…and her name is Karin, as is our oldest daughter, but her name is spelled Karen.  The other nurse is Christina.  When I asked Christina if I could use her name in this blog, she said, “but I wasn’t his nurse.”  I told her that it didn’t matter – I had watched her, and knew what a dedicated nurse she was, and how she treated her patients/residents.  She just grinned at me.  There are other nurses as shifts change, and we are impressed with them all.  They bring him his medications in either pudding or usually apple sauce.  He snagged his arm once on something in the lobby and the nurse patched him up quickly.  I am most impressed with the nursing staff.

Okay…I have to stop here and tell you that when you see the people (usually women) working in this facility (except for the office staff), you will see them in different colored scrubs.  Here is a photo of what I mean.

Each color represents what job they have/do.  The Blue scrubs indicate the nurses (RN/LPN).  The Purple scrubs indicate the CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistant).  Pink scrubs indicate the housekeeping and laundry. Aqua indicates therapists.  Black scrubs indicate dietary/food service.  There is also a navy scrub that indicates maintenance and environmental services, but I’ve never seen them in that color – just t-shirts with the facility logo on it.

I have been most impressed with all these ladies…they are amazing.  And they have treated Fred with the utmost respect and care.  

We have become friendly with many of the residents and staff.  They talk with us, they laugh with us, and they care for us.  Many have expressed regrets that we are leaving – we have become part of their lives, and they ours.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Recovery-Part 1

28 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I suppose most people can expect some ups-and-downs in their lifetime, and Fred and I have had our share…or so we thought.

Okay, so we’re in our 80’s now, and we can expect some health issues to occur.  Knee replacement; cancer; cataract surgery; etc., etc., etc.  But on March 13th of 2025, one of those unexpected issues exploded into our lives, and our future will never be the same.  On that date, my husband suffered a stroke…actually they think he had about three strokes. 

The day before was like any other day – lunch with my brother and sister-in-law…choir rehearsal that evening at church.  Normal.  The next morning, when we got up, Fred was limping…why are you limping? ‘My back hurts.’

He got into the shower, and wet the sponge…and kept massaging the sponge.  He asked What’s next?  I’m thinking…huh?  So I told him that he didn’t need the sponge, so put it away and get the soap.  He looked at me and said soap? That’s when I knew something was definitely wrong…I mean, this is a man who showers every single day!

After we dressed, I called 911 against Fred’s wishes (I’m okay…no you aren’t okay).  The EMS as well as the fire truck arrived.  They began questioning Fred.  I guess because he could still talk coherently, and his vitals were okay, they didn’t think there was anything wrong that they could pinpoint.

  Unfortunately, one of the paramedics, a female, came to me with arms akimbo and almost belligerently said, why did you call us?  There’s no emergency here!! Her attitude rather set me back a bit.  Also unfortunately, I neglected to mention that we had been married for 63 years and I KNEW something was wrong with him!!  

They said they would take him to the hospital if I wanted…I didn’t know what to do…when this same paramedic said, Be sure to eat before you go…it will be hours before you get anything to eat. So that’s what we did.  She obviously didn’t think there was anything wrong with him.

When we got to the hospital, Fred was able to walk into the ER…and then he couldn’t walk anymore.  After examining him, the doctor asked why we had waited so long to come to the hospital?  Hesitation on my part?  Recommendation of the paramedic? 

 After a CT scan and MRI the next day (Fred was admitted), they discovered he had suffered at least two and possibly three strokes in the left side of his brain – which affected his entire right side.  They said the strokes had just skimmed the speech area of the brain, and that’s why he was still able to speak as well as he did.  Unfortunately, it has affected his memory, even to this day. 

 (Just as an aside…I wrote a letter to that particular Fire Station, explaining what had happened, and the result.  I didn’t need or want a reply, but wanted them to know that there WAS an emergency after all, and that paramedic was out-of-line with her attitude. 

Our youngest daughter was so upset by this that she sent a letter [emai] to the Orlando Fire Chief. That prompted a phone call to me, asking about details.  He tried to reassure me that the mission of the fire department is to do the best for our citizens in all situations.  I assured him that I realized that, but wanted them to perhaps use this as a training situation…taking nothing for granted.

I am grateful.

~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husban50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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