Days 171 to 174 - Gaining Confidence

Sometimes the biggest steps that are taken along the Road to Recovery go almost unnoticed. You don't realise that such progress has been made until it has actually happened. This last couple of days have been a little like that, for two reasons.

Naturally the weekend when I am at work every night doesn't leave us much time to be together but that does afford cleo some time to be with the girls when i am not, which is good for them.

While I am at work we tend to keep in touch via text messaging, although i will somethimes call home as well. Among the many swapped texts over the weekend i got one that said: "managed to do some knitting". Now that may not sound much but in the whole scheme of things right now this has to be a major step forward. While cleo has not gained any dexterity in her hand and fingers she seems a little more capable of controlling the up to now involuntary muscle tone to at least enable her to hold a knitting needle. Now getting that control is obviously a major step, and says much for the work that James has done these past few weeks, as well as the determination to improve that is so embodied within cleo's psyche.

We had to get some repeat prescriptions and a blood test for cleo so i made an appointment at the doctors today; that in itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but on the way back I pulled off the road into a private car park and asked cleo if she wanted to try driving the car, something she had not done since the stroke. We swapped places and although she was a little nervous at first she soon found that she could drive as well as before, although for driving on the roads we may have to have a couple adaptations fitted to aid use of the handbrake, and steering wheel.

We are going to get a new car this summer, a Nissan X-Trail we think, and we shall be ordering that afirly soon. The adaptations we need will be worked out at that time. We of course also have to inform the DVLA and the insurance companies about cleo's stroke before she can actually drive legally on the public highway, which if course we shall do as well.

The fact that cleo has the confidence to get back behind the wheel again also shows the progress she is making, and once we have the new car and it is properly adapted there is no reason why she will not drive again.