Sunday, September 28, 2008

Wow! Progress is Sweet

I imagine Pete would not see this as a huge amount of progress, BUT when I went today, he was sitting up very well and holding his head well, even moving it around. Considering that about 3 weeks ago, he could do neither without a great deal of support. His ability to gauge where he is in space has really improved greatly. He's no longer "finding" things with his hand. He's also much better able to adjust himself in his seat or the bed. That is such a big thing. Originally on his board that tells anyone who's there where he is physically and how to assist him, the transfer instruction was Dependent times 2, lift & pivot. That is now Moderate to Maximum, pivot. This is a huge step and means he'll be able to get himself in and out of a wheelchair very soon, so he can have some additional independence. Every bit of independence is a big deal to his mental state.

He is having more feeling in his left arm and leg. I'm trying to maintain cautiously optimistic, expecting less than I think he might be able to do so that I do not get crushed by disappointment.

They have him on some IV and topical antibiotics for the pressure sore and now that he's moving a good bit more that should not be a problem in the future. He is still in a good deal of pain from the surgery. He is getting vicodin for that, although he is really lamenting the loss of the morphine pump! Sorry, they don't have that at TIRR. He told me they were very hard on him yesterday, expecting him to do a full 3 hours of therapy. I told him I'm glad they aren't letting him lay around and that they better be pushing him. I don't think he liked that answer.

I think that's about it. Anything more happens tomorrow, I'll let you know.

4 comments:

Linda said...

Improvement sounds great! Glad they are being hard on him too. You don't get anywhere without hard work.

Wheels and Lollipops said...

Sounding good! He needs them to be tough with him. Looking forward to many more updates like this :)

Woo hoo Pete !

Becky said...

Sounds like things are progressing well! That is wonderful!

Make sure they keep on that sore - those things can get real ugly, real fast!

Anonymous said...

He's getting better!!!!! Looking forward to more positive updates too! My day isn't complete without looking in on Pete!