The Francois family is back from Hawaii and wow were we impressed with how much Elaine's walking had improved. After not seeing her for 8 days, which is a very long time considering we see her daily, she looked amazing! Her stride is quicker and longer and she is almost rid of her hitch. She looks as beautiful as ever. One of the most encouraging things that happened while we were gone, she said she woke up one morning and for the first time, Elaine actually felt like she was getting better. She said her body felt better and like something had changed. It is so exciting and you can see it in Elaine's eyes! Check out this video:
First, a HUGE thank you to Vangie. She stayed with Elaine for the whole week. Fred was scheduled to play in a golf tournament in Colorado while Staci was away. Elaine's cousins and sister were going to come the same time Fred was gone, but there was a schedule mix up. Vangie was glad to step up and spend the week with her sister. Fred and Staci are so appreciative that she stayed and Elaine really enjoyed the quality time she spent with her, as well as her two cousins Elaine and Joanne. It almost made being away from Fred for 3 nights bearable for Elaine:)
Elaine and Fred started the week off with more doctors appointments. This morning they went to the orthopedic surgeon about her arm. He said that her rotator cuff tear is not much to worry about at this point but her shoulder is severely frozen. As we said, a frozen shoulder is incredibly painful and the fact that Elaine has been living with it shows again how tough she is. All the inflammation has also caused her bones to shrink. The great news is, everyone is optimistic that in the next 6-8 weeks she should have a lot of relief. Unfortunately, getting there is a painful process and it does involve an injection while using an X-ray. This also means that Elaine has to go off her Coumadin for the injection. It is because of the risk of internal bleeding. The doctors wanted to do more research before coming up with an exact plan of how that will happen so we will report on that tomorrow. The injection has been scheduled for next Wednesday. Elaine will also be fitted for a splint for her arm tomorrow. This will also help with the frozen shoulder. More on that tomorrow, too.
After that, they went to see the neurologist. He is also very optimistic that this will alleviate her pain in poor little darlin'. Everyone is amazed at her pain tolerance. She is truly amazing!
Things seems to be headed in the right direction. We have officially passed the 6 month mark! Although we are frustrated that it took so long for someone to pinpoint the source of the intense pain Elaine has been in, we are grateful that there is a solution. The delay in not having an MRI sooner is probably attributed to the fact that Elaine is so tough, has continued to workout and hasn't complained nearly as much as she should have. No one could have possibly imagined that she had a frozen shoulder. It is very common for stroke patients, especially women.
Tonight, Fred and Elaine had dinner with the Francois family. The kids were so excited to see Nammie and Ampa! Nammie walked in and held Brian instantly and later Taylor was cuddling on her lap. It was such a sweet sight to see the kids doing normal things with Nammie again!
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