Update #60 from Rob

Hello everyone,
I cannot believe it has been 5 days since the last update. Sorry for the delay.

Things have been progressing is the familiar painfully slow but positive direction.
Steve has reached what we call another level of "awareness" and at times seems to be a little more frustrated with his situation. What is truly amazing is his ability to channel that frustration into his workouts in therapy. Just yesterday, the morning therapy was really grueling. They had him on his belly, holding his head up, helmet on, off the edge of a raised mat. Try that some time yourself! They also had him try some push-ups. We could see him trying and the right arm actually raised his body a little. They also have determined that since he has been laid up for so long that his shoulders were coming forward and his spine was curving. They have treated this with other exercises and have corrected the issue. The point of this discussion is that throughout all of this exercise, Steve always gives a "thumbs up" for doing more things. The tenacity, determination, drive --- that Steve exhibits is a lesson for us all.

We have also used the lift mechanism to do "pull ups" in bed. I raise the lift bar until his arms are at a distance that Steve says is comfortable. He then pulls himself to an almost upright sitting position. This helps in getting Steve's shirt on in the morning. Steve can also dig his heels into the bed and push himself up and lift his backside slightly off of the bed which helps in getting his sweatpants up. With his right arm, he can actually pull his body on its left side which aids in repositioning him throughout the day.

The trach bandage was removed yesterday and the site appears totally healed. We got a bit of a scare, however, as when the dressing was removed, the gauze was green in color. We think something like shampoo (head and shoulders-blue) leaked under the tape and caused this because it was the gauze only and not the wound that had this color.

Steve continually amazes his Speech therapist also. While we know his mind was never an issue, she has to document it by testing. Steve's short term memory was tested yesterday and of course he passed doing better than normal non injured people. This is really good news because it allows something called the "FIM" number to be increased, which shows continual positive progress. He also is mouthing more words and routinely says "HI", "NO', "Yeah", which means that he is gaining more control of his tongue. This is another positive step towards getting a taste of real food!!

We were also able to find out, with the help on one of the great nurses there, that the calculations for the amount of calories Steve is getting were slightly off. It had to do with the amount of hours he was being fed. We'll see if we can "fatten",(sorry Steve-poor choice of words), him up a bit now.

We were also able to obtain Steve's last eyeglass prescription. When Steve was examined by the Neuro-ophthalmologists, they requested this. While their examination found no damage to either optic nerve that doesn't mean there isn't a field of vision issue. They plan to compare his current (old) set of glasses to the new prescription and make a decision as to whether they need further testing or just a pair of glasses made to the latest prescription. By the way, Steve's right eye is almost fully open now and tracks with the left.

As our family has said before, there is no doubt that Steve's progress has been the result, in part, of all of the positive thoughts and prayers directed his way, and now we can add, his own determination. I'll close with a statement from Dr. Armonda
"I think dramatic improvements are still to occur".

Hope all is well.
Rob