He’s Walking!

He walked across the rehab gym, out into the hall, and from almost the far end of the hallway you see behind him. You can see how happy he is! His physical therapist Ashley is happy too, as you can see by her smile. It turns out there’s another Ashley who does occupational therapy, and the two of them are competing to see who can earn more brownie points from Don. Ashley the OT gave him his first shower and shampoo this morning, so she earned a lot of points. But Ashley the PT helped him walk for the first time. She earned extra points by helping him take a 2” step up on a platform and back down.

I think she was saying “awesome.” But at the end of the day Don said the two Ashleys were tied for brownie points. I think he’s just playing them against each other to make sure he gets the very best therapy he can!

Another milestone is that Don now has an “EDD” on his whiteboard.

EDD stands for estimated date of discharge. His is tentatively set for August 8th. At first Don thought this would be too soon. But after such great advances during the past several days, he’s eager to be able to climb regular stairs so he can make it up the 6 steps into the motorhome.

Remember the strange taping on his right hand in my last blog? Our friend Leslie Earnst sent me links to some articles on this therapy, called Kinesio Taping. It was invented in 1973 by a chiropractor, Dr. Kenzo Kase, in Japan. Here are the links in case you want to know more about it. Thanks again, Leslie!

http://lightner.keuka.edu/files/2010/08/smith_results_draft3.pdf

http://www.neurohealthchiro.com.au/marvels-of-kinesio-taping-1589

http://www.medicinenet.com/kinesio_tape/page3.htm

After all the therapy was done, with approval from the charge nurse Brett, I took Don for a ride in his wheelchair down in the elevator to the first floor and showed him all the places I’ve been walking to get to his various rooms, the cafeteria in the basement, the front entrance, several courtyards, etc. We stopped in the chapel for a quiet time of thanks and inspiration.

We are both truly grateful for the wonderful support of friends and family through your prayers and positive thoughts. We’re going to get over this bump in our lives and have a stronger relationship both with each other and with all of you!