Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Here is the promised photo of Mark on the Lokomat. He will do this for 60 minutes three times a week. The premise is that by simulating the exact walking motion (done correctly), the brain rewires exactly how to do it. Interestingly enough, when Mark got off the machine and was put on the parallel bars, without a harness, he walked better than he ever had. Now there was some dragging and it was extremely awkward, but it was decidedly better than anything he had done previously. And this was after only one 45 minute session. He will use the Lokomat again tomorrow and then the parallel bars.

Today he did five laps back and forth across the pool. He did three, then they stretched his legs and pelvis, then he did two more laps. They felt he walked better in the pool than he has before as well. These are obviously steps in the right direction (pun intended).

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Hi everyone! The last couple of days have been very productive. Mark is moving along in therapy and we are amazed at the improvement each day.

On Thursday, he was standing in PT and managed to get himself up with hardly any aid and without a walker. On Friday, he did the same, but added a little "dance" move when the CD player blared out "Shout". His OT was happy that he put his hands up to shout.

Friday saw Mark off on a golf outing. He went to the driving range again and did very well with the help of some adaptive lessons from the pro. He was also shown how to putt from the wheelchair. Then it was off to Taco Bell for some fast lunch before coming back to the hospital with the rec therapist. He was able to squeeze in a couple of short naps so that he would be ready for the Brooks and Dunn concert on Friday night. For those of you who are not country music fans, Brooks and Dunn are country music! The included photo is of Mark at the concert. A group of us went and we had a great time, despite the rainy weather at the beginning of the evening.

Today we had lunch out after pool therapy and were joined by one of the rec therapists, as well as JT and Chris, Mark's roommate and his mom. We were all amazed when Mark finished an enormous taco salad at our favorite Mexican restaurant.