Team Huddle

Happy 4th of July (on the 5th of July...oops)! Hope everyone had a great weekend! We just watched fireworks from the couch on TV last night, but don't let that fool you, we had plenty of fun (unfortunately it's difficult for me to make this sentence drip with the sarcasm I intend while typing...). Just kidding, we've had a nice busy weekend; busy=distracted! Dad's had lots of visitors (thanks!) and we've had lots of supportive company. Here's the latest on Dad:

So we had a meeting with the team treating Dad at CareMeridian this past Thursday to hear about their plans for his rehab. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with his physician, but we did get a chance to talk with the physical therapist, speech therapist and occupational therapist (the activities coordinator was there, but all she did was give my dad a haircut last week, so we'll skip her for the time being...and now he kindof looks like he joined the marines, but whatever). The physical therapist says he's doing great, working really hard with her. Right now he is up in his wheel chair about 2 hours each day, and the plan is to extend that to 2 hours twice a day (probably starting with one hour in the morning and one at night, and getting a little longer each time). She's also planning to get him up on the standing frame (think of it like this; they strap him to a table laying down and then slowly tilt it upright), at about 45 degrees once a day to start. This should start getting him used to bearing weight on his lower body. The speech therapist was not quite as fun to hear from; he estimates that Dad follows commands about 20% of the time (basically just not a lot) and that he has a hard time keeping his attention. He also mentioned that although Dad's hearing seems to be fine, he doesn't think he is seeing much or that he at least doesn't have control of his eye movement. He again reminded us that this is mostly speculation because he has so far been unable to communicate. Hopefully soon we can establish a "yes" and "no." The occupational therapist apparently showers him in the mornings and let us know that he is, in fact, bearing some weight on his legs when lifted from his wheelchair. Although it's still not enough to help with getting him out of the chair, this is a good sign. I guess usually people are not able to bear weight and tend to curl their legs under them when lifted to a standing position. The OT is also working on ordering him a customized wheelchair and new splints for his hands; his contractures have become very pronounced and painful (side note, if you want him to open his eyes, stretch one of his fingers out...does NOT like it).

That's just a brief summary, but all in all it was a pretty positive meeting. They consensus seems to be that he's in there, it's just going to be a matter of helping him regain control of his body. They are also pretty honest and blunt with us, as well as proactive in planning what the next steps will be, for our part and theirs. We'll be having these meetings twice a month to make sure we all stay on the same page.

That's it for now, hope you're all well! I'll try not to wait a whole week before updating again ;)