Paul's Update: Sept 29th at 9:30am
It has been too long since my last post, and there is much to update you on.
Karen continues to amaze us with her progress. In the past few weeks since my last post she has gone from rarely using the wheelchair to never using it at all. She quickly moved to using the walker as the exclusive means of getting around. Within a couple of weeks she began using her newly acquired quad-cane and stopped using the walker. The walker now sits in the spare bedroom, collecting dust with the wheelchair. Now, after moving away from the quad-cane, Karen uses a lightweight standard cane as the primary method of assistance. However, this is only used as stability when walking over uneven surfaces.
She has begun walking totally unassisted for periods of time (video coming soon), and I would expect she will be discarding the cane altogether in a few weeks as she continues to build her strenght and stamina.
As a result of her increased mobility, Karen has started getting out a bit more. We have actually gone out on a couple of Saturday night dates. Just last weekend we were able to go see a movie and eat dinner in Shirlington. She had a good time, and keeps saying how nice it is to get some of her life back to normal.
Although these are all fantastic developments, and we are always amazed by her recovery so far, we must consistently be reminded that she still has a long, long way to go. She still has significant paralysis in her left arm.
We see improvement in the use of the left arm and hand as a key element to her ability to go back to work sometime next year. We are encouraging her to participate in activities that promote the use of her left hand and arm, and ones that exercise her mind.
As for me, many of you know that I run a political consulting business in Alexandria. Election years are always busier for us, and the period between Labor Day and Election Day are particularly busy. This limits the amount of time that I am able to devote to updates on the blog, as evidenced by the number of days since my last post on the 2nd.
With all of these things in mind we are going to start something new with the blog, beginning next week. I will begin sharing my blog posting duties with Karen. She will submit her first post early next week, and our hope is for her to update you all with her progress and observations a couple of times a week. This way you all can get more regular information, from her perspective, as well as mine with the occasional posting that I will provide.
Look for it next week, along with an extraordinary video clip of Karen walking on her own just this week after we met for lunch in Old Towne.
posted by Karen's Blog @ Friday, September 29, 2006
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