Wednesday Sept. 19th

This morning, around 9:00, Christopher and I went down to the garden. It is so peaceful in the early morning. There are several small fountains and a Koi pond which Christopher loves to sit by. I think he likes to see the water splashing into the pond from the fountain. I am sure he likes to see the fish as well. He and Davis both think they should have their own fishing shows, they certainly have enough fishing tackle to support the sponsors.

Stephanie and Megan, two of Christopher’s favorite therapists tagged teamed him today. Their plan was to get him up standing on his feet. We went to one of the gyms where they have a device called the “Wave” this is a small platform that vibrates, it is the belief that the rapid movement of the vibrations causes the muscles to contract and relax at a faster rate helping to increase strength and balance. At first they just pulled his wheelchair up to the platform and placed his feet on it allowing him to feel the vibrations. As they did this he started pushing himself backwards away from it, with both legs. This was exciting, he hasn’t been moving his right leg much at all, so this was good to see. After they familiarized him to the feel of the vibration they maneuvered him from the wheelchair to a standing position on the device. He tolerated this for 90 seconds on three different occasions. Standing tall with his head up and feet under him, he did move his feet a couple of times to steady himself. He was being supported by both Stephanie and Megan but he was upright and not with the aid of a tilt table. This doesn’t sound like much but after just a few days in the bed let alone two and a half months the body does some strange things when you stand up for the first time.

Once back in the wheelchair they continued working on him propelling himself using the legs and feet to pull himself along. He hasn’t quite mastered this yet, he is still pushing himself backwards more than pulling forward, but the leg motion is good. We have to work on strengthening his right side both upper and lower body. After his therapy session was completed he and I stayed in the gym to keep practicing, he liked sitting there moving backwards and forwards like in a swing. The forward motion is what we want him to continue to do, once his body understands the motion he should be able to incorporate those same movements to move the chair forward as intended.

Christopher’s speech therapy today consisted of work on his chewing and swallowing of ice, working on opening his mouth on command, rather than as a reflex to the spoon coming close to his mouth. He is still a little slow at these commands with the therapist, this is not unusual, most of the time when they open their mouth someone is sticking something in that they don’t want. You can’t blame them much. Later in the day I did get him to eat a half a cup of ice, he did very well with this.

He took a trip to Piedmont today for a follow up CT scan, we hope to hear back from it sometime tomorrow or Friday. The nutritionist and the medical team would like to start Christopher on a steroid supplement in hopes of increasing his muscle mass, in looking at the med they will prescribe is routinely used in cases similar to Christopher’s, with no side effects.

It has been a good day, Debbie went to the office today, she did call several times, separation anxiety I am sure. A good day.