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Recovery Road
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Lots of News
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October 11, 2007 9:59 AM by Bobby
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Dad's miraculous recovery is amazingly not slowing down much at all. I haven't been home since sunday but when I was there I was amazed at how well he was getting around, how good he looked, and how well the left arm was progressing under the circumstances. Still not seeing anything major out of it, but seeing some slight in to out motions that seem to be getting a little easier, so we can just keep hoping that it continues to improve.
His Physical therapy has been going amazing. He has been walking around the block on his own, for good or bad, we're not sure yet. Jeremy would really rather him do some other excercises versus walking but i guess its better than nothing. Yesterday, they actually took him off the cane for the most part. He should probably have it in the car or something when he goes places but he should only use it if he is really tired or uncomfortable in a new place.
He also has a appointment with Bick's to go for a test drive and see if he can get ok'd to start driving again. Someone should explain to Bick's that he never knew how to drive in the first place. If he gets his license back it would really make a lot of things a lot easier on everyone. So things are looking good and we have another set of appointments with the cardiologists in the following weeks and hopefully they will start lifting some retrictions.
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Sorry for the lack of Posts
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September 21, 2007 12:51 PM by Bobby
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Its been such a crazy busy week, it's been hard to keep everyone up to date on the great progress that dad has been making this past week.
On Wednesday, Jeremy came back from vacation and that has been really good for dad's morale. The therapist that picked up dad's session did some good things and really helped him along, but its always good to work with someone you have worked with before, and someone that really knows your abilities. We have had some great PT sessions, dad actually hasnt used a cane during PT for 3 sessions now. He is really looking a lot stronger and more confident when walking w/o the cane. Today, his PT really worked on a series of balance drills and making sure dad was using controlled motions to perform certain tasks.
On Thursday, we had the followup with heart surgeon and he was impressed with dad's progress. The chest xrays, the incision looked good, and the lungs apparently sounded pretty well too. We have to see the heart surgeon in a few weeks, and if things are still looking well, the surgeon will cut him loose.
During the afternoon IV session, we got some blood work back, and all the blood work looked pretty good. He was just a tad high on sodium and quite a bit high on sugar too, but otherwise there wasn't much to be concerned about.
I am headed back to mke here on sunday morning, and will be back shortly, but hopefully, I can still bring everyone good news in the coming weeks.
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Another Week
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September 17, 2007 9:07 PM by Bobby
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Turns out we only had an OT session this morning and I thought it was a fairly succesful session. I could see how a lot of people could watch and would still be discouraged but i have really been trying to pay attention to the little things and have been very impressed with the improvement from week to week. He was able to complete the taks today with a lot more arm/muscle control. Its still a little herky/jerky with the shoulder but they are slowly trying to remove those motions. Its amazing how many muscles are required in the subtlelest motions. The biggest thing you could notice, was the better and more controlled motions of bringing the arm from inside to outside. The arm still needs lots and lots of work, but I think we are moving in the right direction.
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1 week of therapy down
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September 14, 2007 11:38 AM by Bobby
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I thought we had some encouraging signs with the left arm/hand this morning. Lauren has really been working hard with him and looks like we are seeing some results. She has been working on not only getting certain motions, but also making sure they are controlled motions. His left arm motions definitely looked a little more controlled by the end of the session.
His PT session went really really well too. He did the entire therapy session w/o a cane today. His stamina, endurance and breathing were really good. He did some side steps to the left and right, some coordination drills on 4" step, some walking backwards and forwards, 2 flights of stairs, and a very long walk that required walking up and down a ramp. He was definitely tired after all the work, but it really seems to help his attitude and willingness to want to do more and more on his own. Doing our best to continue working on things at home in hopes of getting him back up and out as soon as possible.
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More
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Volunteering for Daily Activities
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There have been so many requests to help out that it is almost overwhelming, but that is a good thing. Our cousin Julie found a great site and the basic idea, is to help coordinate daily events in the recovery process of a stroke victim. It will take some work to set everyone up, but it will be a lot nicer than managing the 100's of phone calls.
In order to request a login, Click Here, and click on the Contact the Coordinator, include your email address, full name, phone number (optional, but is nice to coordinate and find subs), and you will recieve an email back with login information.
Most members of the website should have gotten a notification of this site with the ability to log in. If I missed you follow the click here link.
Currently, there are only rides to therapy available for voluntering, but as we get handle on where we will need help, there will be other activities.
Thanks so much for everyone's help
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