First hand account

Today I spent the morning with Bob. I was there for his physical therapy, speech therapy, lunch and occupational therapy. I saw first hand how hard he works everyday. It was great, I took tons of notes and took some pictures and videos.

Bob could not use the lokomat because it was broken. The physical therapist, Dan, fitted Bob with a supportive plastic structure that prevented his right foot from drooping down when he lifts it off the floor. Bob practiced walking with a one sided walker. He took steps by moving his right leg forward holding on to a special type of walker that is made just for one side. Bob did really well. He took about one hundred steps, broken up into groups of about twenty. Dan was amazingly encouraging and provided support when Bob neededed it but allowed Bob to take the steps on his own most of the time. Here is a short video of Dan and Bob right before he got up to walk another twenty steps. Notice how Dan talks to Bob, the two have a great rapport.

Then it was straight to speech therapy. Bob worked with Caitlin in the sun room. She practiced sounds with him, sang words and played a game using tiles of letters. In it Bob had to unscramble four tiles to make it into a word, copy the word onto the board and then write the word without looking at the tiles, recalling it from memory. Bob also went over the communication boards the tech therapist from yesterday made for him. When quizzed on it he was correct about 65% of the time. At first it will be the job of the staff and family to show him the board and ask him questions, but Caitlin hopes that Bob will initiate its use when he needs something.

After speech, Bob had lunch. Jason came to meet us and hung out with us during his lunch hour. Jason hadn't seen Bob since Saturday and noticed improvements. He mentioned that Bob was speaking more, seemed more comfortable in his wheel chair and communicated better.

Then Bob had occupational therapy with Amanda. She practiced standing and sitting from the wheel chair to a raised mat and back. Bob did a series of exercises while sitting on the mat. The therapist integrated Bob's right arm into the exercises by making sure he was always working both hands together. Bob used a one pound bar and did rows, arm curls and extensions forward. All the while his right hand loosely grasped the bar. This was an improvement from last time when the therapist used to wrap his hand to the bar to prevent it from slipping. Amanda said Bob is using his bicepte, triceps, some muscles on his right shoulder but not his wrist or hand. She is happy with Bob's progress.

My mom arrived with my son during the last part of the therapy. They came to meet us and then back to the room to wait for the therapy session to end. Right after Bob arrived back in his room, a staff member brought in a small therapy dog. Bob loved seeing the dog do tricks. Soon after the puppy left, I took my son home and my mom stayed with Bob until after dinner.

After a quick stroll outside to enjoy the warm weather, Bob played two more cards from the traffic game. The second one was particularly difficult but Bob persevered and did it. My mom says he likes the routine of doing these cards.

It was interesting seeing Bob's day first hand. I saw how invested he is in his recovery, I saw how much effort Bob puts into all the different types of therapies, and I also saw how tired he gets after all that hard work. Rehabilitation is a full time job for him. But Bob also seems to have fun doing it. He manages to inject humor into the routine, and in two weeks has forged a partnership with each of his therapists.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.