Routinely Busy Day

Jackie was up on time today.  He was dressed, had breakfast, morning meds and spoke with Dr. K and his team.  Even with all that done we were still running a little late for speech.  Becca stopped by and was able to start his session a little late.  She took Jackie up to the sixth floor terrace for some fresh air since it was so beautiful out.  They played I Spy focusing on things on the left side of where they were sitting.  This was purposefully done to help with Jackie’s vision.  They also worked on memory and attention and of course talking loud.

Next up was PT.  The session was all about walking.  Erin coached Jackie through walking with the help of the parallel bars, the wall and the arm elevated walker.  Rec therapy was also incorporated with the use of a card game.

As always, the lunch trays were being delivered around the same time Jackie’s PT session was over.  He ate a decent amount of his lunch and then was ready for an afternoon nap to rest from his morning sessions and get ready for OT.

As we are hoping to come home in a couple weeks, Paula is working with Jackie on things he will need to do at home like getting in and out of the shower.  She is working with Jim and I so we are trained to assist him as well as be comfortable with the equipment she is ordering.

We went back to Jackie’s room after OT and surprised him with a visit from Visa and her Mom Jane.  Visa was the therapy dog we saw at Jefferson.  Jane will text me when she is at the hospital and if the schedule works out she stops by.  Even though Visa is not allowed on furniture Jane let her sit on the pull out chair that is lower to the ground.  It worked out perfectly as Jackie did not have to lean down to pet her.  Jim and I took turns sitting beside Visa on the pull out.  At one point Jackie was really laughing because Visa ‘s tail was wagging so hard right against me.  Jackie eventually fell asleep while Visa was in the room.  I think it was a combination of Jackie being really tired and feeling very relaxed with Visa by his side.

We said our goodbyes and hope to see Visa one more time before we go home.  Jackie’s dinner tray was already here so he started eating dinner.  He did not get very many bites in when he became very tired to the point that he could not keep eating.  We got him into bed to rest.  We were able to get him out of bed for a half hour and he ate about half of his protein snack.  We then got him back in bed for the night.

Thank you for continuing to send positive thoughts and prayers our way.