Ten Year Anniversary

Today is the 10-year anniversary of David's stroke!  The day it happened, we weren't even sure he was going to live, yet here he is still with us!  The picture below is from about a month after his stroke, when had graduated to a cane from a walker (after having graduated to the walker from a wheelchair!). The picture was taken in English Oaks Rehabilitation Facility, where he lived for about a month after his stroke, relearning how to walk and how to do so many other things of daily life - feeding himself, bathing, shuffling a deck of cards (it's the important things, you know?). How far we have come!  Praise be to God!

We are so thankful for an additional 10 years of life for David after having feared for his life on this day a decade ago.  We are so filled with gratitude as well for all that he was able to recover.

Here's an update of where he's at:

He can walk, bike, run, work, and even get way up on a ladder to trim our ever-growing palm trees (which I wish he wouldn't do, but there it is).  There are things he hasn't recovered - still doesn't "really" have feeling on his left side.  If you walk up behind him and tap him on his left shoulder, he won't know you're there.  If he uses his left hand to get something out of his pocket, he cannot tell what it is until he sees it - can't tell by feel what he is holding.  His biggest disappointment is that though he CAN run, he cannot run as he used to.  He never did recover his stride, so running is awkward and can leave him with pain for a few days afterward - and yet he perseveres at it, because he is passionate about running and for him it just isn't the same to try to substitute biking, swimming, walking, etc.

This summer we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and spent time in Akumal, Mexico.  We toured some Mayan ruins, went out on a sailboat and spent time in the pools and the ocean.  Here is a picture of David exploring the ruins at Tulum:

It's a year of anniversaries - not only our 30th wedding anniversary, but also this 10th anniversary of his stroke.  An amazing set of circumstances came about that is allowing us to spend a couple of days in Scotland next week, and we're seeing this, in part, as a celebration of his recovery.  Our hope is that even though it is November - and far north - that the weather will allow for us to climb Arthur's Seat (pictured below) as a testimony of triumph over where his stroke initially left him.  I hope to put up another post soon with a picture of him atop Arthur's Seat, having conquered it!