Busy Morning

This morning Jackie woke up to a busy schedule.  First up was an ADL session with Paula, focusing on prepping for the day.  Jackie worked hard as he normally does during these sessions. He is getting better at putting on his shirt but is still unable to do this by himself.  After washing his face and brushing his teeth he was ready to spend some time with Joey, Magee’s therapy dog.  For those of you who have followed the blog, you know that Joey is no stranger.  Jackie always lights up when he sees her.  Today was no exception.

Becca had scheduled Joey to be part of her speech session.  The main focus was working on getting Jackie to speak louder while voicing commands. Jackie laughed as Joey stepped on his footrests to get her toy closer to his hand.  He had to say ‘give’ so she would release it.  Joey is trained to respond to whispers as well as normal voicing.  Even though Jackie’s voice was quiet, he was able to have Joey follow his instructions. They played catch and also tug of war.  It was a great session, but tiring.  Jackie rested in his room for the time remaining prior to PT.  Erin was working at one of Magee’s outpatient facilities so Mark picked him up and took him to the gym.  He recognized that Jackie was running out of steam so they had an easier session.  Jackie still took some steps at the end so that his progress would not be stalled. PTL

Nap and nutrition was next.  I decided to take a nap at the same time as Jackie. Both of us slept well even though it was for a short period of time.  When Jackie woke up he was going to have a half hour session with Paula followed by Becca to finish out the day.  Much to our surprise, the short nap ignited Jackie’s energy.  He almost pushed himself up to a sitting position and even was able to balance himself on the side of the bed.  PTL He went with Paula to the gym and had a good work out.  Paula had Jackie call Becca when he was ready to move on to her session.  Becca said she answered the phone and was surprised to hear Jackie’s voice.  All of this is so positive, it makes him feel normal and also is encouraging that he is voicing into the phone. He would do this again later in the evening while talking with Lindsay.  PTL

I had just come back from a Starbucks run when Jackie came back from Becca’s office. We decided to head down for an early dinner and enjoyed some of our drinks until it was time for the cafeteria to open.  Jackie ate fairly well, although he tired half way through his meal. We came up to the the room as we had to wait for some meds, and Jackie enjoyed his Magnum bar while watching sports on TV.

Jackie was definitely ready when we got him into bed.  He was a little restless at first, but then seemed to be settling down for the night.  It had been a day of ups and downs.  Jim and I continually try to figure out the catalyst behind Jackie’s actions. As this can be frustrating, Jim looked at me and said that maybe we need to just stop thinking about things so hard and just chalk it up to TBI.  Knowing every hour of every day could add something new to the equation.

With your positive thoughts, prayers and support behind Jackie, he will continue to rally through each day.  We will continue to encourage and celebrate as each hour unfolds a new leg of the journey.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
~Dale Carnegie