Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Now we have outpatient fun

I have been bad again. So, since we came home. . .

We had a wonderful weekend after Thanksgiving! I got the tree up and Anna and I decorated the front yard. She picked out a blow up Santa and wuv's him! We'll see how she likes sitting on his lap this weekend!

We went last Friday (the 5th) back to the neurosurgeon's office to have the stitches/staples taken out and OMGosh, he looks so good! There will be a couple of battle wounds that stay, but mostly, Pete looks like our Pete. I'll try to get a picture and add it to the blog for those who think I'm crazy. After that, we went to the TIRR Kirby Glen facility, this is their outpatient place. They call it TOTS, for Tirr Outpatient Therapy Center, and it looks a whole lot like the gym at the hospital, and the patients there are likewise in varying degrees of rehab. When we were touring the place, there was a man who was walking with very tentative steps and I told Pete to watch him, because that's what he was going to be doing before he knows it.

He has continued to get stronger and to improve in his cognition skills since his surgery. This sounds punny, but having the bone flap put back in has taken a load off his mind. The day after we got home, he was laying in bed and I told him he needed to move his left leg so I could adjust the covers and he lifted the darn thing right off the mattress! And here we were excited he could wiggle his toes, now he's wiggling all 5 of those little dudes and lifting his leg. He said his abs were weak and of course they were, it hurt every time he worked them. So, I've got him working on that too. He's been emailing like crazy and really his typing hasn't lost much only using one hand. The best thing is how much stronger his left arm is getting. I have a little 2 pound weight that I think he could hold. That's not much at all, but considering 2 months ago, he didn't know his arm was there, much less could he move it, that's pretty remarkable.

Today he went to TOTS for an evaluation. The speech therapy folks were much impressed. The recommendations they received was for 5 days of therapy a week, but they don't think it needs to be more than 3 days. The occupational therapist is going to work on reworking cooking skills. Sounds like a plan to me. The physical therapist has been tasked with getting him upright. Over the weekend, I told Pete that once that happens, I'm going to sit on the couch for 3 weeks and he can do everything.

His mom has been here during the week for like 3 weeks, I don't know for sure. It has been a wonderful experience for us all. Pete has enjoyed having her around and Anna sure does love her Oma.

I can't believe Christmas is coming up so fast! More later.

2 comments:

Linda said...

It is great to hear all the progress he is making. Go Pete!

Anonymous said...

He seems to be improving so much! I'm so glad Oma is there helping you out and it's good for her I'm sure!