Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The last several days have been very full. Peter and Debbie were here through Monday and we had a wonderful weekend.

Monday Mark started PT early in the morning and was put into the walking harness. He walked about 10 feet. The harness is suspended from the ceiling via a hoist. He walks without his full body weight on his feet. He did very well. Later that day he did mat work where he sat for 30 minutes and then was on his belly and on all fours.

Today he had another session with the hoist/harness and walked 10 feet holding the parallel bars four times with short breaks in between. Each time he would make it to the end of the 10 foot walk, we would hoist him off his feet and push him back to the start. He said he felt like Peter Pan. Later this afternoon, he had a second PT/OT session and was able to stand at a standing frame for 30 minutes which was his best effort to date. His legs were very straight and he was using his left hand/arm to do tasks with the OT at the same time.

Of course, between these sessions, he had speech, rec therapy, and a psychologist appointment. All these therapies are addressing his cognitive skills and his short term memory which is still very weak. He does seem to remember things that are important to him, but not the small every day things like what he just ate. (Of course, he says most of the hospital food is best forgotten.) He was ready for bed early tonight because he was exhausted. He did not sleep well last night because he was in another room for the night and it was unfamiliar. They are installing overhead lifts in every room to hoist the patients in and out of the beds. It is a much better system than the portable lifts they have been using.