A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

It was another start of a week full of therapies and hard work.  We let Jackie sleep in for just a little and then got moving.  He had breakfast, saw Dr. K, had meds and was ready for speech at 9.

Part of his session with Becca was taking a test. It is a gauge for how he is doing.  He has taken the same test a couple times. Today she made the print a little larger and he scored the best that he has to date. Much higher in fact, than the first time that he took it.  I sometimes catch myself looking too far down the road to his recovery and need to continue to celebrate the wonderful successes that are happening each day.   PTL

OT was next since Erin needed to switch her session to the afternoon.  Paula was not in today so another therapist took Jackie down to the gym.  She stretched Jackie’s left arm, helped him practice standing and also played the game Guess Who. It was a good session.

Lunch was next and then a nap before PT.  Erin had reserved the Locomotor training machine – the treadmill with the harness.  We wanted Jackie to be rested and ready to go.  The majority of the session was on the treadmill.  The therapists would help Jackie walk and then give him a break.  He did this about 3 or 4 times.  The last time he walked was the best.  He did some step ups and also had electronic stimulation on his left shoulder.  He ended the session with a walk down the hallway with help from the therapists and the walker with the arm extensions. He was totally worn out after the session.  Erin always gives Jackie a great work out.

We got back to the room and let Jackie take another cat nap before dinner.  After he ate we went up to the sixth floor greenhouse for the group art therapy session.  Jackie was still tired but we wanted him to give it a try.  He decided to do a pencil sketch and the only thing he drew was a dog.  There was tons of white space and one dog in the middle of the page.  I know how much he misses our Golden Retriever and believe the picture says very clearly, at least to me, that Jackie is ready to go home.

We should have a better idea by the end of the week how long we will be here and what is next.  Our team at Magee is wonderful and will help us throughout Jackie’s entire journey no matter what or where Jackie’s next step of recovery will be.