Wednesday Sept. 26th

We started the morning still excited about the news, receiving another two week extension to our stay here at the Shepherd Center. Christopher was up and going early today, starting with speech therapy, he is still working to be more consistent with his following commands and blinking his eyes as a communication tool.

Stephanie, the OT, worked with Christopher on sitting upright at the table. Because of the muscle contractures in his abdomen, he has a tendency to roll his shoulders forward while sliding his bottom forward, sometimes right to the edge of the chair. Stephanie had him practicing using his elbows and hands for support, on the tabletop. The botox still hasn’t had much affect on his upper arms or shoulders. He is still so tight it makes it very difficult to much with him.

After the morning sessions were finished, Christopher and I went down to the garden for a little time by the pond. I is so relaxing just sitting there listening to the waterfall, as much for me as him. It was another beautiful day, just a bit warmer than this past weekend. After about an hour outside we went back to the room to get ready for his 1:00pm physical therapy session. Today he was back on the bike. He did an amazing job, riding for over thirty minutes, traveling more than four and a half miles. He definitely recognized the bike, as soon as he was pulled up to it he started pushing his legs and trying to get started. Kristen and Ellie were still in the process of hooking up the electrodes and he just kept trying to put his feet on the pedals.

We finally got back to the room a little after 2:00pm, he did well being up and about since early morning. We had several visitor this afternoon, thank you Marley and Susan for the wonderful cupcakes, and Bridgett for the chocolate-peanut butter fudge, the nurses came back to the room wanting the recipe. Christopher was a little restless this evening but finally settled down when I was able to find a show he likes to watch on the TV, “The Big Bang Theory” did the trick.