Progress

Oh, how I love the word progress right now.  We had a big week and Scott made some great progress.  His arms are improving and getting stronger, but because his muscles were so atrophied they are still very weak.  He has been doing a lot of strength training and his hands are getting better as well.  Another thing he worked on this week is transfers from the bed to the wheelchair and he has successfully mastered that now.  This is a huge step and we are so excited for him.  He no longer has to use the lift to get out of bed and can just do it with a slideboard.

Pool therapy was also very good this week.  Scott was able to take his first steps in the water on Thursday!  It is amazing to see what he can do in the water.

They have also worked a lot on standing with him.  He has been in the standing frame every day and has made it for 20min.  He is starting to feel a little weight on his lower legs when standing.  He still can't move them, but starting to feel the weight is a very good sign.  Yesterday he stood on the parallel bars for almost 2 min.  All of this is very exhausting for him, but he is so motivated and keeps pushing through it.

Hannah was able to help with therapy again this week and they played bean bag toss and bocce ball while Scott was in the standing frame (it keeps his mind of the hard work he is doing).  During recreational therapy they played memory.  Hannah was very proud that she "won everything" they played that day.  The occupational therapist is trying to reserve the kitchen for next week to bake cupcakes with Scott and Hannah.  This will be great fine motor skill therapy for Scott.

We are staying on long term acute care until next Tuesday and then we will most likely move downstairs to acute rehab.  We will miss our "family" of nurses and therapists up here, but we are excited to start another chapter down at acute rehab.  Scott's nerve pain is still really bad, but the medications are keeping it under control.

Matt and Casey are coming into town this weekend and we are excited to see them.  I can't believe we started this journey almost 9 weeks ago and we haven't been home in 7 weeks!  We miss being home and seeing our friends, but we just feel so lucky that we can still be together as a family during this time.  I can't imagine not being together.  We have all adjusted well to our lives in Lincoln.