For anyone who has not followed our journey, back when Bruce first stroked, I set up a wall in the kitchen I called "Control Central." I used post-its and have advised many new Caregivers to do the same. Yellow was immediate, any other color was "can wait." Last summer, the list of household repairs that had to be done was finally removed from the wall! Yahoo! And for the last year, one post-it remained - 3 items.

Replace smoke detectors in the house. Not immediate, but they are ten years old. Our wonderful fire department comes in every fall and does a quick test for us - free of charge. They just get to use our names and any photos they take in their campaign to educate the public. So they are working, but time to get them replaced.

Two and three are pretty funny: replace front door bell and "Fence - MB." The amazing thing is that yes, in stroke recovery one does get to a place where these simple things make the list. I can't imagine thinking about the door bell so long ago. But it must have frozen over our harsh winter and when a wonderful neighbor dropped off an Italian Cream pie (can you just taste it?) for Christmas, the button broke. Even better is the "Fence-MB." Neighbor on one side uses his space behind his garage to toss his yard waste. Growing up we had a Clean Fill Area down the street from the house which my parents called the *Junk* Pit - LOL. So, yes it is his *Junk* Pit (all yard waste, mind you). But you can see it from my deck and I was thinking of a small piece of plastic fence - no big installation, decorative only - to kind of block it. The MB is to run this idea by Mary Beth. And I look at my three items, laugh mostly and am just so thankful that this is where Stroke Recovery gets to. But wait - because there is no down time in Stroke Recovery.

Control Central is now full again - and it only took two weeks! Both the Honda and Toyota have recalls. We got the Honda taken care of last week, but the Toyota made the wall. And then there was the six month visit to the Financial Advisor - Oh boy!

Medicaid now has a five year look back. If I had been more in my sane mind way back, this would now be over. Bruce is 6 1/2 years post stroke. But while I took care of legal issues if something happened to me, I just wasn't able to process much beyond that. Several of us have been talking, longer recovery times for all of us, and we all have to think about this. If something happens to me or to Bruce and permanent placement in a Nursing Home is required - what now?

So fortunately this was on my list for the Financial Advisor. He is not a lawyer, but he does encounter these issues and I wanted his take. So add to the list: Eldercare Attorney consult; Debbie needs Long Term Care Insurance - with something called Partnership with State of CT. Debbie has to figure out her Medicare needs before next October 2016 (I am a January baby). And Debbie has to figure out when to take her Social Security.

My nice, clean, naked wall is now full again!

Bruce is doing so well. He has his 2015 Medicare therapy allowance. I love our Outpatient Clinic. Bruce has PT twice a week with pool before one of those sessions. If a pool cancellation comes on the other day, the team calls me - Bruce can have pool therapy that day and it does not take from his allowance. I always have his schlepp packed, with me and Bruce rises with the birds - so Clinic likes it - space is filled and Bruce enjoys it. I can't believe how much stronger he is. I only wish that improvement would continue here at home. But we work towards it every day, never give up. Medically he just hit a small blip - but I am working with his PCP and fully expect to be able to get things under control with some diet changes.

Debbie needs a day off with a good book, glass of wine - out on the deck! LOL Weekend is to be back to hazy, hot and humid - AC definitely, so probably time to get some meals put up for next week's adventures! LOL