When will Bob leave Kindred?

There have been a lot of new developments since I last wrote. No baby yet though there was a false alarm! I don't know when I will be able to write another post after this one, as my due date is fast approaching but my mom will try to take over for a while. And who knows, maybe resuming writing this blog will be a nice brake for a mom of a newborn?


We now know when Bob will leave Kindred, the skilled nursing facility he has been in since leaving Spaulding. My mom met with Bob's team on the 17th and it was determined that he will leave Kindred on the 7th of May. Bob was adamant about leaving as soon as possible. My mom would have preferred he stay a bit longer because once Bob leaves he will not be getting three therapy sessions daily on weekdays. Bob will receive some sort of home care but that has yet to be arranged. It is important that he continues the rehabilitation process at home and I think he understands that as he has been more willing to work with my mom on their own. After the period of home care expires, or after he is no longer "home-bound", then Bob will continue his rehabilitation at an outpatient clinic. My mom went to visit Spaulding's outpatient clinic in Framingham this morning to check them out. It is one of the options she is considering.
 
As for preparations for Bob's return home, my mom is almost done with her check-list of things to do. The ramps are installed. There are three of them. One from the garage to the basement, one from the deck into the side door and one from the living room into the dining room. My mom's friend Brenda has completed the paint job of this last one. She painted the ramp so that it would blend in with the carpet. One of the stairlifts has also been installed and the other one goes up tomorrow and so do the support bars. There will be nine bars in total, most in the bathrooms and one in the basement.


About two weeks ago Amanda, Bob's occupational therapist from Spaulding, sent Bob a T-shirt in the mail and here he is posing with it:

On the 13th I spend part of the morning with Bob and was surprised to find him getting ready for a field trip when I arrived in his room. I accompanied him, his physical therapist Karen and his speech pathologist Emily to the nearby Roche Brothers supermarket. We walked about a block there while Bob rode in his wheel chair. It was the first time he had been in such a setting since before the stroke. When we got to Roche Brothers Bob and I browsed the perimeter of the inside of the store. He seemed to be taking everything in and enjoyed seeing sights we take for granted. After about ten minutes we met up with Karen who got him standing behind a tall cart. Bob walked pushing the cart with Karen closely behind him for the length of almost two aisles. Emily gave him an exercise in comprehension where he had to find five items from a list after identifying the categories these items belonged in. Here are a few pictures from that day. The first shows Bob walking an aisle. The second shows his hand completing Emily's exercise and identifying the categories of the food items he was asked to "shop" for. The woman next to him is Emily and the one in front of him is Karen. The third picture is of him at the beginning of his visit, wandering along the supermarket.

On the sunday after, Bob went out to dinner for the first time at a restaurant. My mom, Bruce and Simone took Bob out to La Cantina, an Italian restaurant. Everyone had a great time. Here is a picture:

Bob's been walking with the help of his hemi-walker very well. He often walks along the entire second floor hallway and has gone to the dinning room using it, not his wheel-chair on more than one occasion. This is great practice for when he goes home. This level of independence will be good for him and my mom who will have no help from nurses once Bob is back home. Yesterday Karen told us that she is hopeful Bob will walk independently, meaning without a contact person, one day. Here is a short video of Bob my mom shot this afternoon. You can see he is moving his right leg very well as he walks the hallway of the second floor:

Bob's speech and word comprehension is improving as well albeit at a slower pace. He still has a difficult time with "yes" and "no". Bob's utterances are more varied as he tries to communicate in longer sentences. Emily has been giving him worksheets to test his comprehension and he is more successful with one word texts than with sentences but this isn't to say he can't understand them. Bob usually scores between 60% to 80% with those types of exercises. 

One thing hasn't changed since I started to write this blog. Bob never tires of trying. His humor is still intact and his motivation has remained steady. Bob is a fighter and his attitude has helped him (and us!) cope with the effects of his stroke. It's a long fight, but we aren't giving up.

Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.  

After two weeks at Kindred

Tomorrow will mark Bob's two week anniversary at Kindred. He is doing well, participating in his therapies with enthusiasm (most of the time, there was a day when Bob was not too excited about the whole thing but everyone has days like that).

Bob's physical therapist has been working on his balance, sometimes giving him a little shove while he is on his feet. The electronic stimulation has not been very effective at reviving muscles on Bob's right arm. His right leg has showed lots of improvement. Bob goes for walks around his floor with his hemi-walker daily with my mom, most days twice a day. He once even walked to the dinning room on the first floor. Bob's room is on the second floor.

Bob's right hand is less swollen now after lots of massaging, elevation and ultrasound. He continues to wear the compression glove most of the time. Bob still must sleep with the arm brace and the leg brace and he is not protesting wearing these too much now.

"Yes" and "No" are still used interchangeably so unfortunately they are not reliable answers to binary-type questions. Sometimes we can deduce what Bob means when he chooses one over the other based on context, but it isn't always accurate. In the middle of a conversation he will use "yes" or "no" correctly. Bob has been using the word "wait" properly.

My parents still play the traffic game. Today they finished the deck that came with the game. My mom already bought another set of cards with more puzzles. The letter tile game is not played as frequently any longer. Today Bob and my mom played connect-four for the first time. Bob's occupational therapist suggested it would be a good game for exercising counting, planning and tactics.

My mom had the ramps installed at their house this past week. Her friend Brenda offered to paint the ramp in the living room so that it will blend in more. My mom was very touched by this offer and grateful to have such a thoughtful neighbor and friend.

Speaking of friends, I'd like to share a few pictures of friends that came to visit Bob. I mentioned Sally and Roger in my last post. They came to visit from Florida and spent last Friday afternoon and Saturday morning with Bob.

And below is a picture of Bruce and Simone with Bob in his room. They have come to visit Bob every Sunday since the first week he arrived at Spaulding. This picture was taken last Sunday when we crossed paths for the first time since their visit to Rio with my parents. My husband and I took our kids to celebrate Easter with my parents.

Here is the picture of the grandkids and the grandparents after the egg hunt that occurred in Bob's room:

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I last wrote! I think I will follow my uncle Felipe's advice and write once a week until the baby comes. There are about three weeks until my baby's due date! Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.

Movement on the right side

Today Bob had a great physical therapy session, I just had to share some of the video footage my mom captured. I am unable to post long videos but this one captures Bob moving his right foot forward, backward and to the right side as he supports his body weight with his left foot. Later, Bob is able to support his weight on his right leg as he moves his left knee up and down. Unfortunately this part was cut out. I tried posting two videos but had no success, but I hope you enjoy the one I chose:

I think back to when we all celebrated the first time Bob stood up since the stroke. Today brought another cause for celebration. Bob continues to literally take steps towards his recovery.

My kids and I went to visit yesterday and I watched part of is occupational therapy and his speech therapy. I was pleased to see Bob's continued investment in his recovery. It has been almost three months since the stroke and Bob has not lost the drive to improve. He continues to apply himself to all the different kinds of therapies. His speech therapist told me yesterday that the fact that Bob recognizes a wrong word or sound as it comes out of his mouth, is a very good thing.

Bob is adjusting well to his new place. Our family is pleased with the level of care he has been receiving from the therapists. Unfortunately the assessment meeting will only take place on the 17th of April. It will be then that his team of care givers will set goals and determine his long term prospects at Kindred.

Tomorrow marks one week that Bob is at Kindred. He will celebrate with a special visit from old friends from Florida, Roger and Sally.

Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.

Continued Progress

Today Bob had physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Unfortunately I cannot report on the first two because Bob can't tell us what happened during them. My mom was present for speech therapy and therefore we have some insight into what went on.

The speech therapist worked on a few simple words and also played with the letter tiles. She varied the game Bob is used to playing by asking him to spell a four letter word after being given five tiles. Bob did not do very well with this game, he formed only three words. Bob still surprises us by uttering words in correct context. For example yesterday, when asked where he wanted to go, Bob said "my room". It's always great to hear his voice.

My mom met Bob's new doctor and she is putting him back on two heart medications that he had been taken off of. The doctor will wait on more week and if everything goes well, which she expects it to, Bob will be put back on Lipitor.

My mom continues to provide Bob with unyielding support and care. She spends every afternoon with Bob. My mom exercises with him, goes for walks with him, massages his arm and hand, and advocates on his behalf. My mom has taken on more responsibilities than are usually expected from a wife and she has done so with no hesitation or resentment. Whether my mom is by Bob's side or not, she is constantly thinking about how to better his predicament. The plans for ramps, support bars and stairlifts have been finalized and these should all be installed in my parents' home by the end of April.

Well, after seventy one posts and over 2600 reads, I have decided to cut back on how often I write this blog. Bob is doing well and continues to progress steadily. The daily surprises are more rare now, so I will write a few times per week instead of daily. I thank the friends and family that read the blog daily and provide encouraging comments and emails; in particular Janice, Stan, Maggie, Diane and José Bernardo. Please continue to check back often or better yet, subscribe to receive email updates. Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.

Another visit from New York

Bob had a good morning at Kindred. When my mom arrived he was doing well. They walked around Bob's corridor for one hundred feet and Bob did well. The physical therapist showed my mom how to provide the minimal assist using a special belt to hold Bob by the waist instead of holding on to his pants' elastic band. This is much more comfortable for Bob.

After Bob was done with his lunch, he had some visitors: My husband and I took our kids as well as his parents, who hadn't seen Bob since last year. Since Bob has a single room with a lot more space (and furniture!) than his room at Spaulding, we were all able to hang out in his room. The four grandparents had a nice time catching up and after a while Bob got tired. While he took a short nap, we headed to the dinning room and sat around talking while the kids watched a movie. After about forty-five minutes we went up to see Bob and say our goodbyes. Here is the picture of Debbie and Jim (Jason's parents) with Bob in his room:

This was the first sunday in a while that Bob had therapy. The physical therapist met him a bit before four in the afternoon. Bob pedaled on a recumbent bike for twenty minutes. He used both legs but just one arm. Tina Turner was playing and it kept the exercise tempo. My mom got a good impression from the therapist who was patient and explained to Bob the reasons he needs to wear his boot to sleep. She convinced him and Bob did put it on before my mom left for the night.

George, Bob's neighbor came and introduced himself. The two of them share a bathroom. George is a very nice guy and it made me feel good to know that Bob will have a friendly person who will check in on him. Bob's last roommate at Spaulding seemed nice but he wasn't very talkative. His roommate before that was a grumpy guy. His first roommate was very nice and he would always start up conversations if we met him in the hallway. My mom and his wife became quite friendly.

Today was my first time at Kindred and it is a very different place than Spaulding. It doesn't have the hospital feel that Spaulding has, it feels more like a long term care place. It is decorated with drapes and nicer chairs, there is even a fire place in the dining room. There is no cafeteria, although the staff has offered my mom food free of charge. I found the staff in general to be attentive and my mom was happy with the nurse and assistant nurse on Bob's floor. We hope he adjusts and has a good stay there, that he continues to improve and progress in this new environment.

Thanks for reading and keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming.