[Katti's Cat]

Hello to all friends of Kat

I am terrible sorry we haven't kept you posted but lots has happened.

Kat has suffered several strokes in the last few weeks. Most of them were minor but one has left her partially paralised on the left side. This has led to a rather wobbly walk (she says: go like much beer seaman) and troubles with the fine motoric.

She still struggles greatly with the ability of logic and comprehension. She describes it as reading as if every word has a full stop behind it. And it takes her a long time to make sense. We are only using very small sentences with max 3-4 words. Very difficult without falling into baby talk I can tell you.

Her therapist has banned her from reading at this stage. It is frustrating her too much and has led to the onset of depression. She has started reading her favorite book which she must have read at least twice every year for the last 12. I found her crying over it because it didn't make sense to her and she couldn't follow the story. She started concentrating on getting better and filling her free time with crafting. That is not an option for her either due to the loss of the fine motoric.

The doctors are very confident that she will regain the movements and the brain functions (i.e. logic and comprehension) to pre-op levels. It just will take a lot of time and patience. Time she has - patience not so much.

I am not sure if she told you that she was looking for work as well prior to the op. She has since been offered a job that was perfect for her. And had to turn it down. I nearly had to lock her in as she was hell bend on going to the interview. But I was too worried that it would do more damage than good at this point in time.

My wife is an amazing woman. Despite the set-backs and even despite the onset of depression she is getting up every morning and starts a new day with the will to get better - and fast. She is doing the homework from the various therapy sessions over and over again. Ever day.

But it is not all bad. We still have laughs - lots of it. One of the first big laughs was after her cooking dinner. I had to help her re-write / write the recipes as she is currently unable to follow the instructions. And please understand that I cannot cook - I burn water if I get the chance.

Here is what we wrote for making mashed potatoes
Take 5 potatoes
Take peeler
Peel potatoes
Wash potatoes
Cut in small pieces
Put in pot (small silver)
Fill with cold water
Put on stove
Turn 2nd switch to 4
Add salt when boiling
Turn 2nd switch to 2
wait 5-7 minutes [we use kitchen timer, having 4 now for the various pots]
poke potato with knife
if soft = take off stove
turn off stove
pour potatoes in colander
potatoes back in pot
add butter (teaspoon)
add milk (1/3 cup)
add maze or nutmeg (1/3 teaspoon)
take masher and mash

First time she made mashies, she cut the potatoes in very small pieces (1cm and smaller). That off course led to a mash in the pot after the normal cooking time. We had a real good laugh and had bread that night for dinner. But this is a good example of her daily life now. There are notes and lists everywhere for things that come naturally to many of us (excluding cooking to me). And yet she still refuses to buy pre-made dinners or take-out. Although I am not a big fan either (prefering Kat's cooking) I would chew on anything if it makes her life easier. But no, she refuses and cooks. And yes, there are disasters and near disasters.

The one thing that worries us all is that she is refusing to talk to her family in German. So we do not know how much impact the surgery and effects had on her mother language.

Well, that is it for now. We are off to a walk in the nice sun we have here in Queensland. Kat will take her camera - at least she still enjoys that.

I apologise for being a tad lazy (it has earned me a hit on the back of my head from Kat). Please be patient. I am sure Kat will be back to this forum as soon as she can cope. We just don't know when that will be.

I have seen that many of you have written her a nice note - Thank you very much. It is appreciated and they have real positive impacts on Kat. Unfortunately all of her friends are working and she refuses to mingle with others with similar problems like her (she says: they make me cry and I will get good). I will get around to reading them to her in small pieces. You are all in her thoughts and she misses the forum.

Mr Kattiscat