Therapy Friday

Randy had his therapies today. During his speech therapy, he showed Vanessa his new planner. It is a smaller Franklin covey planner. Its size makes it easier to carry. Vanessa said she likes the smaller planner and suggested that he only keep 3 months in the planner at a time, which is what the Franlin Covey "What Matter's Most" recommends as well (I went through that class at my work a few years ago and it made me a big advocate for the Franklin Covey planner system).

Vanessa also had Randy do a 15 minute multi-tasking and planning exercise. The exercise contained 5 tasks. He had to finish one of the tasks completely and complete the first 2 items of each of the other tasks. Some suggestions she had were 1. If Randy is having difficulty, go back and reread the instructions and clarify and 2. Scan for timeframes or to determine what applies to the task.

In physical therapy, Tammy had Randy go through his normal exercises. His physical therapy is coming to an end here real soon. They have taught him the exercises he needs to do and believe he can do them at home now. I think he will go through the rest of this month and then no more of the PT.

Tina, Randy's occupational therapist, also believes that his OT therapy will be ending here soon. We don't have an end date yet, though. Today, Tina checked Randy's left shoulder. It is feeling much better and seems to be healing. She had given Randy and assignment to plan a meal, so today he told her that he is planning on making his taco salad. I love Randy's taco salad! He said he is going to make it sometime this weekend ~ not sure when, though, as we have a very busy weekend ahead of us.

Today in OT, Randy was re-evaluated. He has made some great improvements. In September, his grip in his right hand was at a 67 and now it is 100+. His grip in his left hand was 22.3 and now is 39. He is definitely gaining strength.

For other updates for us, things have been very frustrating this week. My body is not cooperating with me currently. I think all of the stress of the last few months is catching up to me. The issues I was having with my sciatic nerve was getting a lot better. I had gone to the chiropractor and have been going to physical therapy. Right as I thought I was in the clear, the muscles in my neck started spasming. I went to the doctor and got that fixed and two days later, I moved wrong and am back to not being able to feel my foot and am walking worse that Randy! We make a humorous pair walking about.

The biggest frustration we have had this week, though, has been in learning that Mr Merrill is being "kicked out" of the inpatient rehab at Good Sam. He plateaued. With no improvement, insurance companies will not cover the rehab. The problem is that the only insurance they have is Medicare and they have used all of the benefit for nursing home so Mrs Merrill has no option other than taking home her husband and trying to care for him herself. So he will not be getting any rehab. This weekend, we will be taking them a couple of things that Randy needed when he first came home. It is frustrating that Mr Merrill will not get the rehab that he needs or the care that he needs because of the insurance that he has.