Frustration & Fun

After running around all day last Monday with 3 visits to the insurance office and two to the doctor's office, getting Erwin's paperwork straightened out and going to the airport to pay for the plane tickets to Curacao, I got home late in the afternoon only to receive a call from Erwin's neurologist's office saying that his appointment for Tuesday had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled until early December. I had so hoped to be able to fine tune the dosage on his anti seizure meds, in consultation with his doctor, but now it will have to wait for another 6 weeks. So frustrating! Thankfully, his rehabilitation doctor comes to Bonaire, monthly, so if all goes according to plan Erwin will see him on October 30th.

Friends of Erwin's from his days at Toucan Diving have stopped by the past two Saturdays to spend some time with him. Yesterday they took an afternoon drive with Erwin around the southern part of the island and stopped by to visit with friends. Thanks, Mark and Resa :-).

A New Month Begins..

October arrives with no real progress to report. Erwin is holding steady. He has an appointment with his neurologist in Curacao, later this month, and also his rehabilitation doctor. After consulting with them, we will then try to figure out the next steps to take.

We bought a "zero gravity" chair for Erwin and it has turned out to be a great investment. When I go diving, we set up the chair in a shady spot on the beach, and Erwin can watch the sunset and converse with any friends that stop by. His friend Stewart has been picking up Erwin in the mornings and taking him along on his dive excursions, as well.

On a sad note, it is disappointing to see how many of Erwin's friends have pretty much abandoned him. I guess everyone is busy with their own lives and they don't have time to spend with a friend in desperate need of companionship and camaraderie. This breaks my heart.

A fisherman, that we have known for years, lost three of his fingers (just above the knuckles) earlier this week in a fishing accident. Yikes! We stopped by his house to see how he was doing yesterday and this morning he came by and spent a couple of hours chatting with Erwin.

Moko and Erwin...

Sultry September

Some good news....Erwin's neurologist gave the okay to reduce the dosage on his anti seizure meds. Just the elimination of one pill a day (from 5) has made a HUGE difference. His physical therapist had been reporting that he was going backwards in his physical recovery as a result of the medication and after yesterday's session said that Erwin was almost back to his pre meds self. This is a big relief!!

August Update

Erwin's anti seizure meds were started at a low dose and gradually increased over the course of a few weeks so that he is now taking the maximum dose. These drugs totally drain the life out of him. His recovery from the stroke is going to be greatly impaired, as long as he needs to be taking them, which his doctor mentioned would be for two years. I have asked a few US doctors their thoughts on Erwin's treatment and they concur that he needs to be on the anti seizure drugs. There hasn't been any improvement in his left arm function.

He finally got back in the water, for some swimming, twice last week which he thoroughly enjoys. Erwin is currently in extreme need of some occupational therapy but there is none available here in Bonaire so we are going to have to figure something out on that front. That will be our next project.

7/18/09

Our granddaughter, Molly, was baptized today. This is a photo of Erwin, Jason and Molly outside the church. http://www.pbase.com/imagine/baptism

Physical Therapy

Erwin has physical therapy sessions three times a week at Bon Fysio. His therapist is Robert Smaal...a very nice guy and also the owner of Bon Fysio. Erwin really enjoys his time spent there and gets a good workout.
http://bonfysio.com/main/page_english_english.html
Pictured are Erwin and Robert.

Difficult Times

It has not been a good first two weeks for us in the month of July. Erwin had another seizure on the 4th of July. The following week was filled with doctor's visits. He had his first visit with the insurance doctor who deemed it appropriate to tell Erwin, in the most tactless manner, that he better start thinking about another line of work because he will never work as a divemaster again and his benefits will run out in a year and a half. Poor Erwin was in tears all that afternoon. We all knew that this was probably the case but thought it was more important for Erwin to concentrate on getting better and not concern himself with financial matters just yet. All our efforts to wait until we thought Erwin was ready to hear this news were for nothing. Monday, July 13th we were back in Curacao to see Erwin's neurologist. He was prescribed a different anti seizure medicine than he got the last time. His doctor says this drug has less side effects but when I looked up the medicine online I found a lot of reports of very undesirable side effects...I hope that Erwin does well on them. To top off all of this news....I had my dive gear stolen last week! Here's hoping the second half of July is better than the first!