Hi! Just a reminder about Steve's birthday open house (details on my previous post).
No matter how you know him or how well you know him, the fact that you take the time to read this blog means that you are an important part of his life and play an important part in his recovery. We would love to have you stop by. If you wonder what to expect, please know that Steve is "all there" inside...personality, memory, humor, intelligence, etc. He can't walk unassisted or talk much, but he can communicate and it's easy to visit with him.
I hope that life is good for all of you. As always, thanks for everything!
Love,
Linda
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Update #105 from Linda
Hello, everyone! Steve's 24th birthday is coming up (March 3rd). Last year he spent it at Suburban Hospital in a coma while the nurses sang to him and everyone else ate his cake! This year we'd like to invite everyone to our house to celebrate with him. There's no need to RSVP...just stop by if you'd like to:
Saturday, February 28th 2-10 PM
Sunday, March 1st 2-8 PM
Our address is 1629 Commerce Pines Dr., Walled Lake, MI 48390
248-624-3217 (home)
248-568-6091 (Linda - cell)
248-568-6092 (Rob - cell)
We'll have food, so come hungry! We look forward to seeing you :)
Love,
Linda and Rob
Saturday, February 28th 2-10 PM
Sunday, March 1st 2-8 PM
Our address is 1629 Commerce Pines Dr., Walled Lake, MI 48390
248-624-3217 (home)
248-568-6091 (Linda - cell)
248-568-6092 (Rob - cell)
We'll have food, so come hungry! We look forward to seeing you :)
Love,
Linda and Rob
Friday, February 6, 2009
Update #104 from Rob and Linda
Hello everyone,
Almost 1 month since the last post.....sorry about that.
As we approach one year since the accident, Linda and I are reminded of a statement buy one of Steve's' caregivers in Bethesda. " This is a marathon not a sprint". How true this is!!
Steve seemed to be making faster progress when "in patient" and we were concerned that current progress was actually going backward somewhat. We have videos that show Steve walking unassisted between the parallel bars as if he was going to walk out of them. We had not seen that as an out patient.
You question what has happened. We ask, is it the fact that he was getting more hours of OT and PT per week while in the hospital, and now is getting less? So we started taking Steve to the gym 2 days a week to supplement his therapy. We ask should we be talking to his doctors about new meds? All sorts of things go through your mind. Believe me, you question everything, from your relationship with your God, to how late your spouse lets your son stay up at night!
I think our concerns were also showing, through us, to Steve's' current therapists also.
Anyway after I showed our in-patient videos to Andy, Steve's' PT therapist, he promptly put Steve in the parallel bars and lo-and-behold, Steve walked through them like before!!! HE HASN'T LOST ANYTHING ! It is just that the current things we are doing in PT don't show as dramatically and therefore can work on your patience.
Ditto for OT, just when you think things are leveling out, something great happens! Please see the video. Steve has always shown "3" with his last three fingers. Notice what hand he uses! We were told in Bethesda that this hand and arm might never work again.
Speech has found that reclining Steve works better and much more voicing is now happening. Steve has a swallow study this Friday (TODAY!) and we hope that it will go well. As always.....thoughts and prayers please!
This is Linda...I'm not at therapy too often, so sometimes have a different perspective than Rob does. I spent 2 hours there on Wednesday, and in that time I witnessed improved swallowing during speech, heard the speech therapist comment on the many improvements, watched Steve walk more confidently with his walker (which usually gives me heart failure when I try to walk with him, since he's so much taller than I am and I can't see where we're going), heard him tell a long story to his OT therapist, and watched as he raised his left arm five times to the count of 10 while laying on a mat in OT (with an elbow support on). All wonderful, amazing stuff!
It is hard to believe one year has gone by. When you think, at one time, we were happy when we got an eye blink or a squeeze of our hand, what has happened up until now is truly a miracle and it will continue.
Thanks for following the blog!
Rob and Linda
Almost 1 month since the last post.....sorry about that.
As we approach one year since the accident, Linda and I are reminded of a statement buy one of Steve's' caregivers in Bethesda. " This is a marathon not a sprint". How true this is!!
Steve seemed to be making faster progress when "in patient" and we were concerned that current progress was actually going backward somewhat. We have videos that show Steve walking unassisted between the parallel bars as if he was going to walk out of them. We had not seen that as an out patient.
You question what has happened. We ask, is it the fact that he was getting more hours of OT and PT per week while in the hospital, and now is getting less? So we started taking Steve to the gym 2 days a week to supplement his therapy. We ask should we be talking to his doctors about new meds? All sorts of things go through your mind. Believe me, you question everything, from your relationship with your God, to how late your spouse lets your son stay up at night!
I think our concerns were also showing, through us, to Steve's' current therapists also.
Anyway after I showed our in-patient videos to Andy, Steve's' PT therapist, he promptly put Steve in the parallel bars and lo-and-behold, Steve walked through them like before!!! HE HASN'T LOST ANYTHING ! It is just that the current things we are doing in PT don't show as dramatically and therefore can work on your patience.
Ditto for OT, just when you think things are leveling out, something great happens! Please see the video. Steve has always shown "3" with his last three fingers. Notice what hand he uses! We were told in Bethesda that this hand and arm might never work again.
Speech has found that reclining Steve works better and much more voicing is now happening. Steve has a swallow study this Friday (TODAY!) and we hope that it will go well. As always.....thoughts and prayers please!
This is Linda...I'm not at therapy too often, so sometimes have a different perspective than Rob does. I spent 2 hours there on Wednesday, and in that time I witnessed improved swallowing during speech, heard the speech therapist comment on the many improvements, watched Steve walk more confidently with his walker (which usually gives me heart failure when I try to walk with him, since he's so much taller than I am and I can't see where we're going), heard him tell a long story to his OT therapist, and watched as he raised his left arm five times to the count of 10 while laying on a mat in OT (with an elbow support on). All wonderful, amazing stuff!
It is hard to believe one year has gone by. When you think, at one time, we were happy when we got an eye blink or a squeeze of our hand, what has happened up until now is truly a miracle and it will continue.
Thanks for following the blog!
Rob and Linda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)