Due to some technical difficulties, I couldn't blog last night.  Me and computers are not friends sometimes.  AURRGHHH!!

Yesterday was about Marty showing us how bad he wants to talk!  He is so frustrated that he can't get what he wants out.

Marty had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Conover yesterday.  I went to work for a few hours before hand.  When Marty's parents dropped him off for his appointment I saw Marty was wearing a white shirt and slacks with a sweater.  I told him he looked very nice.  I asked him why he was so dressed up.  He said, "Addy friend"  When we got into the office Marty wrote

"Why are you dressed up
What I think - Addy's Chamber Choir is coming over tonight.  I want to look good
What comes out - Addy friend"

I could see the frustration in his eyes.  I assured him that it will come.  What's important is he wants to learn, he wants to talk.  He has a way to communicate and that's what's really important.

He then wrote, "I will give it another week or so then I am going to try the car Battery on my neck"  Sometimes I wonder how much of his comments are jokes and how much seriousness there is in them.  I couldn't help to laugh and then tell him it's going to be a long process.  I showed him the paperwork that Dr. Conover had filled out for me to give to work.  On the duration of Marty's condition he wrote 1-5 years.  That was a little disheartening for me as well.  I was expecting it to say 6 months to a year. 

I don't know that I have the strength to do this for 5 years.  I have hope that the Lord will give me strength.  I have hope that we won't be at our current limitations for very long.  I am seeing daily miracles.  We are only 19 days post stroke.  I know that most stroke patients would just be getting out of the hospital and would be undergoing intense therapy to re-learn the things Marty learned in the first 3-5 days.  I know that we could be in significantly worse situation, but I still want it fixed NOW!  Ok, enough of whoa is me!

Yesterday afternoon I worked to tie up all the loose ends that I could at work.  Starting today I will be working full time from home until Marty is independent enough to stay home for a few hours by himself and then I will work part time at home and part time in the office before transitioning full time back to the office.  While I am at home we will be moving offices so I had to pack up all my stuff and beg my teammates to move it for me.  I really have an amazing new team at work.  I also played around with the technology we have available to us.  My work computer has a webcam on it.  Most laptops at the office do.  With this, I will be able to web conference in to meetings from home.  I can talk face to face with my team.  This should help me not feel completely disconnected and make my team feel that I haven't abandoned them.

Last night we had a special treat.  Addyson is a member of Bentonville High School's Chamber Choir.  They are an elite group of 32 amazingly talented young adults.  They love to sing and we love them.  One of the hardest things for Addyson through this is her dad's loss of memory of her ability to sing.  She is so talented and LOVES choir.  Terry Hicks, her choir director, agreed to have them sacrifice an evening with family and friends and do a school sponsored singout at our home.  30 of the 32 students came over last night.  We moved furniture around to make room for them and we had a fantastic concert.

Music has always been important to Marty.  He sings, he dances, he moves to the beat.  We always have music playing in our home.  I was nervous that having that many people in our home would be too much for him, but had hope that this may spur memories or help make connections.

The group started with "Thou Shalt Know Him"





After singing 3 more selections, Marty wrote "Is this the Group that Does Balm of Gilead"  The group was excited to sing that one.  It's one of their favorites, but not Addyson's so they weren't going to sing it until it was requested.




After Balm, there were few dry eyes in the room.  The choir continued to sing a few more songs, ending with "Lord of the Dance"




As they ended, Marty sprung to his feet and practically yelled, "WOW!!!!"  He then went around the room and gave all the girls hugs, repeating Thank You!  Again, few dry eyes in the room.  WOW is a new word for Marty.  It just popped out!  We sure love these "kids".

Addyson had made cookies for all of them.  As they were enjoying their cookies Marty wrote, "I don't know what to say I am over whelmed with joy!  This was Awesome"  Yes indeed, this was awesome!