Randy's Day

Today has gone very well! We told the therapists how well the weekend pass went. They talked about it in rounds and think Randy could be discharged sooner than expected. It is up to the doctor at this point.

In physical therapy today, Randy practiced walking without a cane. His balance is getting so much better! For occupational therapy, they worked on weight bearing activities. She had him grab rings (she placed them where he had to reach for them, putting weight on the left hand for balance) and then tossing them. Then she had him practice tossing them with his left hand. That left side is getting stronger everyday. He is able to do so much more with it than he was 3 weeks ago.

For speech, the first therapist gave Randy common proverbs and he had to say what their meaning was. She gave him one that I had never even heard before (something about swallowing a camel and straining a gnat)and, though he hadn't ever heard it before, he was able to deduce the meaning of it. That therapist commented on how much progress she has seen in such a short time. She feels that over the last week, he has made huge bounds ~ even just since last Friday there is definite improvement in how his mind is working. She suggested that when Randy gets home, to watch sitcoms and when they are over, reiterate what it was about and also to ask Cass about what she thought of it so that his mind would have to process her response. In the second speech class, that therapist did the exercise where she gives him a list of three words and he has to come up with another word that fits into the lise ~ making him figure out what the words have in common and then finding something that fits. Last week, he really struggled with that exercise. Today, he only struggled with one and it happened to be the one that was the most obvious one (Randy has always been an "over thinker", often making things more complicated than they needed to be!). The list was Hot Tamales, Hot Cakes, and Hot Peppers. He just couldn't get the connection, but of course the more complicated ones that I even struggled with, he got right away.

I think that is it for updates today. As soon as we see the doctor and find out when Randy can be released, I will post and let everyone know.