No Stress for me…

Hello again Family and Friends,
This week went well with Stuart passing the stress test with no problem which definately means a go ahead for the closing of the hole in the heart (PFO).  For now the nurse is trying to get a time when both of the doctors working with Stuart can do this.  We are looking at the second week in July.  He needs to start a blood thinner (Plavix) 5 days prior to this and continue taking it about 6 months after.  We know that God has been with us so far and will see us through this also.  We or maybe just I am a bit nervous.  There are always some risks involved but the doctors don’t anticipate any problems.  After this is done Stuart will be a bit restricted.  He cannot lift on heavy things.  He still isn’t real strong anyway so that shouldn’t present a problem.

Please pray that Stuart will not be so discouraged with the progress with his speech.  He doesn’t see much inprovement, but his speech therapist says she can see the difference.  Stuart just needs to put more effort into practice that will stimulate his brain to do what it did before the stroke.

This week we invited one of his friends from On With Life over for dinner with his wife (Walt and Kathleen).  He got out of rehab a couple of weeks after Stuart.  Walt had a right brain stroke and his left side is affected.  He cannot move his left arm and hand at all and walks with a 4 pronged cane.  Basically, he cannot be left alone.  Pray for him also as he struggles with discouragement.   He was a man who worked in building so he cannot work.  We enjoyed our evening together with them.

Pray also that Adrian, who is now with us, will be able to get a job.  Also, pray that Adrian will be able to decide what direction he wants to go with his life.

I am thankful that the lady who teaches our women’s Bible study Sunday morning asked me if I would like to teach a lesson a couple of times this summer.  That is something I will gladly do as I miss teaching the ladies very much.  Stuart has also been asked if he would like to teach, but he is not ready for that at this time.  Of course, he would love to.  He will do it again in time.

Any of you are welcome to come and visit us this summer.  We love to have company.  Stuart is not ready yet to go to camps and rallies.

We pray all of you will have a great summer.

Love from us all,
Stuart, Valerie and family

Can I drive!! Please??!!

Dear Family and Friends,
Well, the word is go for the procedure to close the hole in Stuart’s heart.  However, he does need to get his cholesterol checked and do a stress test.   Those must be done before the final, final word on the operation.  Stuart is scheduled to go in for the stress test on the 11th of June. They wanted to do it this week, but due to some changes in his health insurance we needed to wait.  We are now going to have to pay for his medical insurance through Medicaid.  That change occurred when Stuart starting getting Disability.  Praise God the amount we need to pay is not too high with the same coverage.

Stuart has been driving our van since Kyle brought it out a couple of weeks ago.  The doctor asked him not to drive at night until he gets checked out by this special rehab program.   He is driving more cautiously these days but is doing a good job.  One disadvantage to regaining this privilege is that he is not walking as much.  I am having trouble getting him motivated to do this.  He really needs to get in a regular exercise schedule.  Our bikes need some repair work before we can ride them.  Pray that we can get Stuart motivated.

This week also saw another accomplishment that was a biggie for Stuart.  He prepared all the things for us to get our taxes done for last year.  He had some trouble pulling out the records he had on the computer and had to do things another way.  Praise God he got pretty well done this week and should get the information sent off to Howard Herdon who will prepare our taxes.   It is just exciting to see Stuart be able to do things like this again.  It is a much slower process as his typing skills have not returned but at least it got done.

I am sorry that I have not been getting updates on more regularly.  It should have been done since we haven’t gotten a newsletter out.   We are still hoping that will get done soon.  So, I will try to do the updates even if nothing much is going on.  We still appreciate your prayers and financial help.  For now we are still in need of both.  Thanks again for being there for us.
Love from us all,
Stuart, Valerie and family.