Feb 9, 2016

Feb 9, 2016

Just an update for myself. Nobody else reads it, which is just as well. I can be honest. I won't mention my family just in case someone does find this.

A doctor told me I would eventually be able to walk. But  I don't know.  Someone else I know who had brain issues--not the same, but similar kinds of results--is not doing nearly as well as I thought she was. She falls all the time after three years.

My vision is so blurry I can't read.  I watch TV with  Mike but don't really follow the plot. Sometimes I do a little  better, if I watch the same series it's easier to follow because I get to know the characters.

My daughter Caitlin is terribly depressed. Please, God, let things work out so they can be helped. If we could get a bank loan then he could build a house on our lot and we would both be helped. 

Recovery?

April 19
The hardest thing about recovering from my brain tumor is the loneliness. It wasn't just the loneliness of being in the hospital for six weeks, with few visits from family because the hospital was so far away from home it was hard for them to get  there. It is the time at home that I spend alone because I can't do anything. Part of it is the physical disability, not being able to walk. I use a walker, and am taken places in a wheelchair. But I get so tired, mentally. My short-term memory problems make it very hard to read, or have a conversation with someone.

April 26
I feel less lonely as I get less disabled. I'm walking outside, and have ordered another cane so I can walk with two outside. I get so tired, walking outside, walking upstairs. But this is how I'm going to get better.

May 2
I am not getting better. I am terribly depressed, and I don't even care. That is the surest sign of real depression.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas from the Olympic Peninsula! Snow came on the morning of December 20 and left in the afternoon. Whatever the season, we still see this spectacular view of the bay and the trees from our kitchen window. The picture also shows you a bit of Mike’s gardening.

Our shed was converted to a guest cabin, and we learned that “if you build it, they will come!” We invited guests from the Seattle area, and as far away as Missouri, and had the pleasure of showing people the sights of the Olympic Peninsula. But our favorite guests are our grandchildren. Lucy, the oldest, is four.

In February, our grandson Freddie, 2, received a very serious burn on his left hand from touching an iron. After two skin grafts, and diligent physical therapy by his amazing and dedicated mother, our daughter Caitlin, Freddie was dismissed from the doctor’s treatment in December. He is expected to have complete, normal use of the hand.

 

A highlight of 2013 for the Roarks was the birth of our second granddaughter, Penelope Louise, October 5.

 

In November, our son Chris and his wife Chanda came back from Thailand where they are missionaries. We had an early Christmas with them, and they are now visiting her family and other friends before returning to Thailand in February.