It was an
exhausting but extremely rewarding day overall. Dan didn’t sleep very well
since the room was way too warm. He also woke up with a slightly elevated temperature
but this passed quickly, so there were no worries there.

The first half hour of physical therapy included a lot of
stretching of leg muscles. The physical therapist was the same one from last
weekend; she said she saw a lot of improvement between Sunday and today. After
an hour break of relaxing it was another grueling hour and a half, which
included doing both a 36 foot and 46 foot walk with the cardiac walker. Dan’s
legs are still very shaky while walking, pivoting freely not just at the ankle
but at the hip as well at times. He needs to not look at his feet while walking
and just trust the staff since he concentrates on getting each step exactly
right instead of making progress. They tried tying a gait belt from the walker
to the wheelchair to provide more resistance to forward motion as well. He
ended PT by doing multiple stretches throughout his legs to get them stronger as
well as to measure progress. Dan appears to be improving incrementally but it’s
going to be very slow and steady to get to walking where he needs to be. His
endurance improves every day.

Lunch was
next, then off to occupational therapy where there was more practice transferring
back and forth from the wheelchair to the toilet, followed by a new set of arm
stretches using resistance bands. As part of that session they also talked
about how to use a reacher and how to use that to assist in getting clothes on
in the morning.

For
recreational therapy Dan met Jazzy Blue, a blue harlequin Great Dane who was a
complete sweetheart. He spent a good 15 minutes petting the dog and chatting with
their owner. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

Since there
are concerns about insurance (as there always are) Dan isn’t taking the weekend
off from physical and occupational therapy so he can keep up the improvement.
He has negotiated with the scheduler for set his therapy for early Saturday morning
so I can meet up with friends in the afternoon and evening. He may see if this
is possible for either early or late Sunday as well so he will have more time
to visit. Seeing all the friendly faces this weekend is something that Dan Is very
much looking forward to!

There are
many people in the rehabilitation ward who are leaving tomorrow and more coming
in which it will change the overall atmosphere of the place. He has a private
room right now, and unless there is a huge influx of patients will hopefully be
able to keep it that way for the next few days at least.

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