I’d like to start by thanking all of you that have sent in videos. We now have a bit of a backlog. Originally I had envisioned doing one per day. But that doesn’t really work out. Some days he’s just not able to enjoy one. So every two or three days we’ve been showing a video. It’s really cool because he really enjoys it and pays attention and absorbs the information. We talk about that person and sometimes he gets very emotional. But always very very thankful. So my sincere gratitude to all of you. Know that you are really making a difference!

Rob has now been in inpatient rehab for over a week. It’s been a pretty hard week really. But I’m very hopeful!

He transferred very late Friday, March 29. And as some of you probably know, rehab is very busy Monday through Friday. And then the weekend is mostly time to rest. Not much happened when Rob arrived. They did do eval for the three types of therapy (physical, occupational, speech). That helps because it meant on Monday he could start right away doing work rather than just being tested. Unfortunately, Rob started to decline over the weekend. Sunday night was pretty bad and so was Monday. So on Tuesday I visited early enough to talk to the Doctor who was also concerned. It’s hard when Rob is in a new place and nobody knows him. They don’t know his history. They don’t know his baseline. But the doctor listened to me and was happy for me to pass on Dr. Padrick’s contact info. Dr. Padrick has been with us since the very beginning. And even with all of the shift and rotation changes in both hospitals, he has consistently been there for us, either in the foreground or the background. We trust him. He knows us. And he trusts us. When we say, things are going downhill and we should get some imaging, he immediately takes action. Anyway, all of us discussed and consulted with him. He agrees we need to watch carefully. But one possibility is just the location change. With everything different and new, it can cause confusion.

Rob has been participating in therapy all week. This is good because it’s a requirement for him to stay. Insurance companies have strict guidelines and being able to participate in three hours of therapy every day is a requirement. It has been a struggle though. Pain has been a significant barrier. As I talked to the physical therapist, she said, pain meds are always a balance. If you don’t have enough pain relief, you can’t participate. If you have too much, you’re groggy and sleepy and can’t participate. So we are working on that balance this week. The speech therapist, Greg, is outstanding. The first thing he did was tackle Rob’s oral care. I won’t go into details, but just say it’s taken three straight days of scrubbing and hydrogen peroxide, and all sorts of other stuff to get to the bottom of things. But it’s made a huge difference! Hooray! Speech therapy is also the one that covers cognitive abilities. So the confusion that we were seeing creep back in over the weekend was apparent on Monday and Tuesday. Greg was concerned and wanted to make sure we knew what he was seeing. I’m less impressed, at least initially, with the occupational therapist he is seeing. Hopefully, after talking with her this week, where she’s had a week with Rob, I’ll get better info from her.

One thing that’s exciting that happens during therapy is… Rob gets out of bed. And not to just sit in his recliner like he did in the hospital a few times, but every single day, even multiple times a day. And he gets into a wheelchair and moves around. He goes to the gym and transfers to the mat where they do exercises. This is a lot of moving around. Did I mention the whole pain med balance thing? Well, I’m happy to say that we are really seeing a difference in his tightness and range of motion. So in my book, that’s a successful Week #1!!!

One note on visiting: Rob is definitely up for some visitors. As I mentioned Monday through Friday are busy during the day. But 4 to 9 PM are officially visiting hours. Can’t promise he will be awake during all of that time though… there’s a lot of exertion, and it makes him tired! The weekends are slower and he’d be happy to see you then as well. Visiting hours are noon to 9 PM. If you need information about visiting, please contact Rachel or Spencer.

Rachel’s email is: Rachel.Sartin

Spencer’s email is: Spencerwon

Both of them are: @gmail.com

Take care, my friends!