Had a good Speech Therapy session today with Megan. He is sustaining his voice a lot longer than he was even a few days ago. So that is one positive for today. Also, he is officially is on chunky foods for all meals. Small steps!
Had OT and PT back-to-back this morning. Good practice in getting M ready for the rigors of outpatient therapy. He was super tired, but did great. He got his Independence Day shirt today and got his photo taken and put on the wall with all of the others before him who got well enough to go home. But what was super exciting is the PT had him sign a photo release. I almost told her he could not sign, but instead just let him go for it. He started writing his name and had a nearly perfectly formed M (in the same style he had prior to the stroke) and you could recognize a C and an N. Won't be long until he will have that back to, I have a feeling! yay! In OT, with the adorable Whitney, he bounced a soft basketball off a net and caught it again. Over and over, sitting then standing! His reaction time was really great. Then he did his favorite hand over hand windmill exercise. We still have equilibrium issues and need to learn to straighten up while sitting and standing and not lean...
Yesterday morning we took a walk on our favorite dirt path in Four Seasons. We did pretty well even on an uphill area. (I'm going to get so buff!!) Here is a photo of M enjoying the beautiful path and all of the trees that had no leaves last time he was there. We enjoyed a visit from Ben and Jake this weekend. It was nice seeing their handsome faces and we had a good time being together. We did a test run with Michael on the wheelchair up and down our street. So I think I'm ready for that! The uphill/downhill was not as scary as I thought it would be. So yay, more quick walks without having to load the car. My parents brought up some lunch today and it was great to see them as well. They hadn't seen Michael since he was at Kaiser. He's improved quite a bit since then. Tomorrow we have our first post-patient visit with M's regular doctor at Kaiser (look out Dr. Patel...I have LOTS of questions and referral requests, LOL...about every "ologist" ...
Our second full day has been a better one. (I got a good night's sleep and a shower this morning...that helped immensely) We explored our backyard and sat on our rockers watching the construction go on across the street. It's better than TV! While enjoying the patio we got a visit from our former co-worker, neighbor, and dear friend Sue. It was great seeing her as she has been such a support during this tough time. She was really happy to see Amazing Mike as she called him. She even got to see us do some of our expert transfers and some super standing exercises. I think he was showing off for her. 😁 Just finished lunch and I asked M what he wanted to do afterwards. "Go on a walk, me and you." So that's what we have planned! We will hop in the car and take ourselves to some level ground. Our street is just too steep for me to navigate at the moment. We don't want any runaway wheelchairs! This is funny. Just a moment ago at the end of lunch while typi...