Paul's Update - 01/26/06

Dear Friends:

Today was a very good day. Therapy went very well. Paul was the most responsive he has ever been. The day started with work on upper body stuff, working with the cones. When the therapist (speech) put the cone in front of him he took it and reached over to drop it in Dad's hand. He did this about 9 times. Then they put a table in front of him with a platform that had wheels on it (sorta like a roller skate). The therapist put his right hand on it to see if he could move it back and forth. He wasn't able to do it with the right hand so he moved his left hand over to the right hand and he was trying to move his right hand with the left one. When Dad called Paul's name he would look over towards him. The therapist had a wire whisk that is like tongs that she wanted him to clamp with his hand. He couldn't do that but Dad asked him to put it on the table in front of him and he did it! They asked him to remove a tennis ball from a velcro pad, he couldn't pull it off but Dad asked him to put the ball ON the pad. He had to reach over and out a little to do that but he did it about 3 times. Keith (PT) tried to get Paul to wipe his mouth with a cloth in his own hand. He held Paul's arm up with the cloth to his mouth but Paul got VERY frustrated with Keith. This could be VERY good as the next stage of recovery is anger. I got there around 4:00 pm and when I walked in his back was to me so I walked to his left side and called his name. His head was drooped down and he lifted his head to look directly at me. He seemed so aware....what an exciting moment. The last part of the therapy was to stand him up and then sit him on the side of the bed to balance himself. He was pretty tired by then and didn't do quite as well so we took him back to the room. He rested for a while but was awake when I left around 6:15 pm. Most of the rest of the evening was quiet but he'd had a busy day! Tomorrow is the CT scan at Fair Oaks hospital. The transport is suppose to come around noon for his 1:00 pm appointment. Therapy will probably be early tomorrow (before the transport). I'm praying that the CT will show even more improvement in the fluid amount in the brain. If it does it could be the reason for such a good day today!! I pray that it means we will see only more improvements each day!

God Bless! Love, Lynne & Carl