6/17/09

Hi all,
I don't have a lot of progress to report. It's going to be pretty slow-going as we work through physical therapy. Kathy continues to get stronger slowly. She can sit up unsupported for 16 minutes now. That's up from 5 minutes a couple weeks ago. It's hard for me to judge progress in the other areas since I'm not there for her PT sessions.

The surgeons did not do the skin graft as expected. They did excise some dead skin and tissue from her arm. She has a vacuum attached to the wound that keeps it clean while it regenerates. She will be wearing that for at least a couple months, probably longer. We don't expect to need the graft now. The rest of her arm is looking much better now. It's still a little swollen but it was swollen before with lymphedema.

She's still on a lot of pain medication and sleeps quite a bit. She has developed some pretty bad shoulder pain which is common in stroke patients. It's caused by being in bed and pillow positioning.
Love,
Lara