Update 133 from Linda and Rob

Hello fellow Steve's Army friends; we hope all is well with all of you.
It seems at our last post we said we would try to post more and here we are in May with our first post of 2013.........
Steve is doing well , Voice is getting stronger and so is the Left Arm. He is working hard in and out of therapy and his efforts are showing merit. For the first time ever, Steve's bicep muscle in his left arm is flexible and not rock hard as it has been. He has used his left hand and arm to swing at a punching bag and to reach out and grab items. It is still not "automatic" but it is controllable when he puts his mind to it.
The Left side neglect issue is also coming along. Steve is able to read words across a row when the spacing and font size are "right". The last time we had Steve out in a golf cart, you would never know he was injured. It was too bad that was last October and we had to get the Golf cart back before the snow came. We are planning to do more of that type of driving this spring/summer.

Speaking of Golf, we hope you all got the announcement of the Golf Outing this year. Same place, Hartland Glen, and it is on the 22nd of June.

We have been involved in a couple of new ventures this year and they are keeping us busy.
The first is the Auto No Fault reform that the republican party is trying to push through.
THIS IS BAD FOR MICHIGAN AND IT'S CITIZENS!! Although Steve is not an auto accident victim, we are significantly trying to help defeat this bill (#4612).
As you may know, If you are the victim of an auto/motorcycle accident and have Michigan no-fault insurance, virtually all of your medical needs are covered by your auto insurance company (up to $485,000) and then the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA), for Life. This bill if passed would greatly restrict the amount of therapy and equipment you can receive and tie them to "significant progress" whatever that is.
The republican party says Auto No-fault is "unsustainable", and that your current medical coverage will be adequate to cover your needs. Michigan has had ANF since 1973, if it truely is unsustainable, why not prove it by turning the records of the MCCA over to the public? As to medical coverage, our family is living proof that good medical insurance doesn't even come close to covering our needs!
There is a website that I suggest all of you visit. It is the Coalition Protecting Auto No Fault (CPAN) site  http://www.cpan.us/index.php
PLEASE educate yourself and contact your representatives in the Senate and House and tell them you oppose this bill. The bad thing about this bill is the the republican party wants to pass it before the (MCCA) is forced to turn it's records over to the public due to Freedom of Information Act, What do they have to hide!!??

I'll get off my soapbox now and tell you about out second venture. It is 32 pounds of squirming puppy known affectionately as ROSIE-JO.We rescued her on March 9th at 18 pounds; needless to say she has turned our house up-side-down. She is part Lab (loves water)-Kangaroo (can leap tall tables with a single bound)-Deer(2/3 legs 1/3 body)- and Alligator(many-sharp puppy teeth) LOL!!!
She is sooooooo good for all of us and once she figures us out, and we her, things will hopefully get back to normal. In the mean-time, if you want to see a house in dis-array, stop by and laugh.
All this comes at the time our family room is being remodeled to add to the fun.

Thanks so much for checking in!  We hope life is good for you and yours.

Rob and Linda