A month without blogging?!? Did I really do that? I did. It was a very difficult, but productive month for me, a month of introspection rather than a lot of meaningless blah, blah, blah. Sometimes I just have to do that. Most of you understand.

Mike has gotten strong enough to go back to St. Dominic's Outpatient Rehab for physical and occupational therapy. The peripheral vision in his left eye is gone, so I'm driving him everywhere he needs to go. He may get his peripheral vision restored, he may not, nobody knows for sure.

He's also had a neuro-psych evaluation by Dr. Irby, who has been his neuro-psychologist since the 2004 stroke. He had test results from then and now to compare, and on the 7th, he's going over those results with us. He did notice some fatuous lability in his initial interview with Mike on April 17th, which explains why I feel like I'm living with a 14 year old boy most of the time. It also explains why he's perfectly content to watch TV all day and night and tends to favor comedies and comics. For now, he's stuck in "silly mode" and wants to be entertained, to be amused, and has very little tolerance for the frustrations of adult responsibilities. His short fuse can swing him immediately to the other end of the emotional spectrum with lots of hostility, belligerence, etc. He has very little control of his emotions due to the pre-frontal cortex damage. That condition could improve, but it may not. He is working on it. Please, friends, continue to pray for him.

I've been through a spell of insomnia and sleep deprivation, but that is beginning to correct itself. Most of it was due to stress, I believe, but once I worked through a good bit of the internal head noise and unhealthy attitudes, I'm sleeping much better. It's taking lots of journaling, counseling, prayer, meditation, exercise, antidepressants, and friends calling attention to unhealthy behaviors to get me back to the middle of the road; now let's pray that I can keep it between the ditches. It ain't easy. Today I feel grounded, not something I take for granted any longer. I got a solid 8 hours of sleep without pills last night, and that is a real blessing.

I appreciate those of you who have expressed concern.

I get by with a little help from my friends.