Bill, Weds. Oct 22: stand walk talk Yahtzee!

What a busy day! Bill's days have all been busy at the new rehab, but this was my first chance to see most of it.

8:00 - 9:00: OT with eating, bathroom, teeth, dressing, etc . Bill has to do most of the work.

9:00 - 10:00: First the harness for a stand and walk.  And then standing, no harness. Pretty cool.
 (Honest, I have video but once again I am having trouble loading it)

10:00 - 10:30: recreational therapy. The four of us played Yahtzee -- it makes you think in three directions.

10:30 - 11:00: speech therapy. First he has to write notes on what his activities have been so far in the day. Today's handwriting looks markedly improved from yesterday's notes. This challenges him to remember who he worked with and what they did. Then there was a whole series of tongue exercises (who knew there could be so many?), and sound patterns. The time just sped by.

11:00 - 11:30: neuro psychologist. PT expressed some concern that Bill seemed to be nervous or holding back on walking. We explored many avenues: because it's been three and a half months, how much of his muscle memory needs to be re-learned? Because he had blood pressure drops until very recently, how much was holding back because he is expecting to get dizzy (although it's under control now)?  How much of what they are seeing as "nerves," from a shaky/bouncy right leg, is really just part of the brain injury and temporary (similar to Parkinson's tremors)? The doc asked if Bill was nervous, as his leg was bouncing, and Bill said not at all. How much was Bill holding back because there had been three near-falls, trips to the floor, from therapy at the prior facility?  The doc assured Bill that in his 23 years at this hospital, never has a patient been injured during therapy. Yes, they may have had a controlled  trip to the floor, but no injuries.  Overall, the doc encourage Bill to have faith that he could cut loose, just go for it with walking. I made the point that it was like cutting loose from the tow plane when he was 14 and had his first glider solo. Well, of course that led to a longer discussion, and the doc was very impressed. And he walked away with a Bill-specific phrase to be used in the future: we're going to cut loose with the glider.

I had to leave for a few hours, so Bill had lunch, then another couple of hours between OT, PT, and ST.