Saturday

Things are about the same.  Chris still has good periods and bad spells.  Her main problem continues to be the pain in her back, hips, legs, etc.  I spoke to the neurosurgeon about this and he agreed that it probably has some to do with lack of use, but another thing it could be is blood from the initial bleed may have gotten into her spinal fluid and gravity has carried it down through the central nervous system irritating everything along the way.  I now believe this is the case.  If so until the blood breaks down and is finally absorbed this discomfort will go on.  The good news is that the ever present headaches seem to be subsiding.

We did visit our regular physician on Thursday to check in and bring him up to speed.  It was quite a chore. The office is on the 7th floor of a nearby building here in Reston, and it is a pretty long walk from the parking lot across a wide concrete walkway to the building entrance.  I had to leave her in the car, go up and borrow their wheelchair, then return to get her, and the reverse when we left.

Our doctor's office has a small physical therapy unit, so we signed up for a session this coming Tuesday.  We have not heard back from our other inquiries, and the  neurosurgeon felt we didn't need a neurologically specialized place.  Chris is kind of dreading making the trip to do that, I think because it is an ordeal just to get there.  We'll see how it goes.

She is also having some issues with staying focused, especially reading and doing her puzzle books.  That could have something to do with the continued use of percocet for her pain but we'll bring it up at our Feb. 9 appointment with the neurosurgeon.

She does seem to be sleeping better at night - and so am I :-), so that is a big positive.  She actually prefers sleeping on a futon rather than in bed.  Whatever works.  So she'll spend half her day upstairs on the futon then we'll help her downstairs and she'll spend several hours in the family room. 

I don't feel the need to be with her all of the time now, so today while the girls were at work I went to my office for a few hours and then did some grocery shopping - although we are certainly not lacking for food due to the culinary skills of many friends and neighbors.  Thanks to all for the food, the cards, the calls, flowers, emails, texts, and visits.  Your kindness is truly overwhelming.