Paul's Update - 03/23/06

Dear Friends:

Unfortunately my shoulder has been hurting so bad by the end of the day that I cannot type. It appears that I have tendonitis in my right shoulder and will start physical therapy for that on Monday. So I apologize again for getting this message out late.

Paul had a pretty good day on Thursday. His medicine for muscle relaxing was changed to a new drug. This will hopefully be better and not make him so sleepy. Therapy started later today. Speech was at 11am. It went OK but Paul wasn't very interested in the buzzer machine. She asked him a question that took some thought and he didn't answer with the machine ... after that he wouldn't do it at all. She was able to get him to eat a little popsicle (he always enjoys that). I got to the hospital around 12:30 and Paul was wide awake. He seemed more alert. OT was at 1pm and he did pretty good. She had some trouble getting him started but when she laid him on his left side she got him alert and he was able to move his left arm a bit. He laid on that side for about 10 minutes. PT was at 1pm and the regular therapist worked with the girl that is the "wheelchair expert". She measured Paul while laying on the mat and then she got him in a sitting position so she could measure his upper body, arms & legs. Even though they didn't walk with him ... he got a workout anyway. They needed to have him sit up as tall as he could. That meant stretching his shoulders back & up along with holding his head up. The PT is going to set up an appointment with the wheelchair manufacturer to have a representative come and work with her to get the specs to order a chair. We will probably go home with a rental chair while his chair is being built. It appears that we are all having a little anxiety about the prospect of bringing Paul home. It is a new phase (again!) that we don't feel prepared for. We think Paul will probably do well being in his own environment but there is so much we don't feel prepared for. I'm so thankful for having such great friends & family as our support!! God has certainly provided for our need in that area!

Blessings, Lynne & Carl