Hi everyone!

As we move into June, we're now a little over two months into Chad's recovery journey since his hemorrhagic stroke and emergency brain surgery on March 30th. Looking back, it's amazing to see how far he has come. In those first days after surgery, simply sitting upright, swallowing safely, and moving his leg on his left side felt like huge victories. Today, he's home, attending outpatient therapy three days a week, spending time with family and friends, and continuing to work incredibly hard on his recovery.

Over the past few weeks, therapy has shifted from helping Chad stand and walk safely to helping him move more normally and regain control of the left side of his body. A large part of what he's doing now is retraining his brain and body to work together again. Because the stroke affected the right side of his brain, many things that used to happen automatically now require much more focus, attention, and repetition. Every day, he's putting in the work to rebuild those connections.

In physical therapy, he's working on walking, balance, posture, core strength, and learning to use his left side more effectively. A couple of the highlights recently were tackling stairs and going outside to practice walking on uneven terrain and hills. Those may sound like small things, but they're important steps toward safely navigating the world outside the therapy gym and building confidence along the way.

In occupational therapy, the focus continues to be on his left arm and hand. He's working on shoulder and arm activation, weight bearing, stretching, posture, and exercises that encourage the brain to reconnect with the affected arm. The therapists are also using electrical stimulation and other techniques to help "wake up" muscles that are beginning to show signs of returning movement. The arm and hand remain some of the slowest areas of recovery, but we're encouraged by small signs of progress and continue to pray for more.

One of the most encouraging things for us right now is seeing how therapy has progressed. Early on, the focus was simply helping Chad move safely. Now he's being challenged with more complex balance, coordination, and movement activities. He's walking more at home, becoming stronger through his left leg and core, and showing greater awareness of his left side.

We continue to face challenges too. Recovery of his arm and hand, ankle and foot control, vision deficits, and the mental fatigue that comes with a brain injury of this magnitude are still very real parts of the journey. We are continuing to pursue additional vision evaluations and therapy options while trusting God with the process and praying for continued healing.

We also recently welcomed caregiver support into our home. This is helping provide some much-needed respite and will be an important part of our plan as I prepare to return to work later this summer.

As always, thank you. Thank you for your prayers, your texts, your visits, your meals, your encouragement, and for continuing to walk alongside us. Recovery from a stroke is often measured in months and years rather than days and weeks, but we continue to see progress, and we continue to have hope.

Please continue praying for healing, endurance, wisdom in the decisions ahead, and encouragement for all four of us as we navigate this season together.

We love and appreciate you all more than we can say. ❤️

—Amanda