Another Day at Home

We are all so happy to have Robb at home.

But it isn't easy. Robb said to me tonight that he is just waking up to how long this recovery is likely to take.

I was having a sad morning, combined with a bit of cabin fever. Since Robb can't lift anything, and walking is so difficult, I have a lot of things to do for him.

So, it was nice to get out and about

Today, Marcella from Rehab Without Walls came over for another session of occupational therapy. We went to Trader Joes, and Robb realized that he could walk using the shopping cart to provide the balance that the walker normally provides. He still can't lift anything heavy, so I'll be the one carrying all the groceries up the stairs. At the moment, I park the car in front of our garage, open Robb's door, set up his walker, and then park the car. I bring in whatever is in the car, and carry it upstairs, and then I "spot" Robb as he walks up the stairs with the cane. (I'm not exactly certain what I'm supposed to do if he loses his balance. Break his fall?)

Robb was on his feet for about forty minutes at the Trader Joes. We'll try to match that each day, and add to this time when Robb has the energy. We've got to be careful not to get too ambitious, and over-do it.

We followed Trader Joes with lunch at the Public Market down the street in Emeryville. Robb was really tired, so I got our food. He had been craving a yogurt drink, and we had that with Afghan food.

Marcella left us, and Robb and I went on to Ikea, to try to find the perfect mattress. No luck, yet. Our lovely new bed has a one-size-too-small mattress on it at the moment. Robb used his wheelchair in Ikea, because he was too tired to keep going with the walker. I have to say that I don't know how frail old ladies with husbands in wheelchairs manage. Wheelchairs are bulky and heavy, and not particularly easy to get in or out of a car. I suppose that this, like many other things, will eventually get easy, but I has not doing a very graceful job of it today.

Ikea is quite well arranged for wheelchair use. We only found one or two displays that were difficult to reach with the wheelchair. I'll be glad when I find time to pick up a handicapped parking tag. We somehow missed the rain, but it would have been nicer to have been able to park closer to where we were going.

At the Public Market, we just left Robb near the front door and drove around, looking for a parking space.

We missed the rain while we were out with the wheelchair, but it did hail again today (it hailed yesterday, too).

The hail really piled up on our roof.

Here are a couple of bits that bounced in the bathroom window, when I opened the window to get a photo.