Day By Day – Play By Play

Jackie seemed well rested when he woke up this morning.  We decided to keep him in bed for breakfast.  He did not eat very much but enough to coat his stomach for his morning meds.  Becca came in at 10am and spent the first half of her session in Jackie’s room.  She tested some regular food with him, but he is still not ready.  Becca was talking about her upcoming vacation at the beach.  Jackie spent many family vacations at different shore points so was interested and engaged in her stories.  He even spoke some words and when she asked what kind of fudge he liked he replied chocolate.  PTL. They went up to the sixth floor terrace for the second half of the session and played some tunes on Jackie’s portable speaker.  Even more words were said and shoulder shrugging to the beat returned!

Jackie went right to PT after speech.  Erin stretched out many of his muscle groups.  She then moved him to a bike that was programmed to do the pedaling for him.  Even though it was difficult to tell how much his right leg was working, it was great for his muscle tone.  When the session was over we joked that we would take Jackie in the gym at night so he could ride it some more. When I asked Jackie if he would want to ride it for 2 hours straight he gave a thumbs up.  He always loved riding bikes and I think it made him feel normal again.

We came back to the room and Jackie took a nap.  When he got up he had a late lunch.  The rest was beneficial as Jackie fed himself the majority of his lunch and he ate more than he has for a while.  PTL. We will take small wins whenever we can get them.  After a conversation with the dietary director it was time for OT.  Jackie got tired quickly and did not seem to put out much effort.  Paula is very good at reading people and pushed Jackie when necessary to make the session productive.  Once again we had Jackie rest and then warmed up dinner.  We helped Jackie eat a little more than we did at lunch, but he still ate a decent amount.  We will keep working at it day by day.

Jackie’s IV blew tonight so we are not giving fluids.  It is very difficult to get IVs in him as his veins have been tapped far too often.  Hopefully his fluid intake will increase to the point were an IV will not be necessary.

Jackie fell asleep watching some of the Eagles preseason game.  It is so hard to believe football season is upon us.  If I can relate Jackie’s recovery to football I would say he is still in the preseason period of his recovery.  He is working out the bugs and trying new plays.  His opening game will be the first day after his surgery and that day will determine all of the plays to be made during the regular season.