Matt had a great weekend. He napped a lot, but had a great time in between with many visitors. He seemed happier than I've seen him in awhile - maybe because he's getting tired of seeing us all the time and got to see friends yesterday. ;-)
Matt's speech therapist is giving him homework now, so we worked on that for a little while yesterday morning and today. Math is hard! He did 5 addition problems and then had to take a nap. This morning he worked on generating words and got through a good list before he needed a break. I hope he continues to have speech in two 1/2 hour sessions this week, because language is definately the hardest thing for him. I think his ST is proud of making Matt more tired than he is from physical therapy.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Time flies
We came to Crotched Mountain one month ago and I cannot believe where Matt is compared to December 14th. He's walked (still with his PT moving his right leg) all the way from the gym to his room 4 days in a row, which is quite the feat. He's eating most of his meals in the dining room now and doesn't seem so overwhelmed by activity and noise. He's doing better than 50% when he id's pictures in speech therapy. And he seems to recall more and answers questions much more reliably.
He has a few upcoming appointments that are going to be big steps in his recovery. Next Wednesday he's going to see a neuro optomotrist to get his double vision figured out. Hopefully this will allow him to stop wearing an eye patch and help with his headaches. Then in a few weeks we go back to Dartmouth for a CT scan and to visit his surgeon. Think healing thoughts for the next 2 weeks and hopefully the scan will show no more swelling. We don't know how soon he would have surgery after that, but the sooner he gets the skull flap back in the better!
He has a few upcoming appointments that are going to be big steps in his recovery. Next Wednesday he's going to see a neuro optomotrist to get his double vision figured out. Hopefully this will allow him to stop wearing an eye patch and help with his headaches. Then in a few weeks we go back to Dartmouth for a CT scan and to visit his surgeon. Think healing thoughts for the next 2 weeks and hopefully the scan will show no more swelling. We don't know how soon he would have surgery after that, but the sooner he gets the skull flap back in the better!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wednesday morning
What a difference its made for Matt to get his meds figured out! Now he's not taking the blood pressure lowering medicine and he gets a small dose of oxycodone right away in the morning. He's been wide awake and ready for therapies for 3 days in a row - and he mostly stays awake in between, too, which is something completely new. This morning he didn't even want to go back to his room after therapy so we went and sat out in the hallway.
We then had to figure out something to do while he waits for his next session. His OT had given him word searches a few weeks ago, and once we figured out that 'paint book' meant those activity sheets he was very happy. He read through a large list of words searching for 'orange' before he got tired.
There's a whole list of other small steps of progress he's made, but he's ready for therapy, so I'll post that later.
We then had to figure out something to do while he waits for his next session. His OT had given him word searches a few weeks ago, and once we figured out that 'paint book' meant those activity sheets he was very happy. He read through a large list of words searching for 'orange' before he got tired.
There's a whole list of other small steps of progress he's made, but he's ready for therapy, so I'll post that later.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday morning
Matt says he's causing us too much trouble, but really he's just keeping us entertained and busy, which is why I keep forgetting to blog. He was dealing with pretty bad headaches this week that kept him out of therapy and sleeping a lot.
Yesterday they decided to start the day with a small dose of oxy hoping to keep his headaches at bay rather than knocking him out with a large dose once he gets a headache. It seemed to work fairly well and he's been in rare form since then. He's recalling all of his one-liners and jokes better than other vocab so we spend a lot of time laughing.
We're not sure if its due to the injury or the fact that he was working the night shift before the accident, but he comes alive late at night. His speech therapist can hardly believe the stories we tell of what Matt has said because he never sees that side of Matt in the morning when he's sleepy. We've tried to tell him to come and hang out with us at night, but we'll see. It's nice for us because we can go back to the room to sleep feeling pretty good about Matt's condition.
Yesterday they decided to start the day with a small dose of oxy hoping to keep his headaches at bay rather than knocking him out with a large dose once he gets a headache. It seemed to work fairly well and he's been in rare form since then. He's recalling all of his one-liners and jokes better than other vocab so we spend a lot of time laughing.
We're not sure if its due to the injury or the fact that he was working the night shift before the accident, but he comes alive late at night. His speech therapist can hardly believe the stories we tell of what Matt has said because he never sees that side of Matt in the morning when he's sleepy. We've tried to tell him to come and hang out with us at night, but we'll see. It's nice for us because we can go back to the room to sleep feeling pretty good about Matt's condition.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
No more tubes!
Matt is finally tube free! This afternoon Carol, his nurse practitioner, removed his g-tube that he had been getting food/meds through. He's been off the tube food for awhile - no surprise that Matt has a healthy appetite and will eat just about everything they put in front of him. They did want to wait awhile to try swallowing pills, but that went just fine on Sunday, so today was the day. It took about 2 seconds, but Carol wanted to make sure that we knew it was a huge step in his recovery. There are many patients who've been here much longer than Matt and still have their tubes.
Other than that, Matt had a slow day of rest - he's fighting headaches again and the medicine knocks him out. First thing this morning, he wanted meds, so I asked if he just wanted Tylenol or needed oxycodon, and he said "oxy - boom." Which is exactly what happens when he gets it- he was out for most of the morning. He had a little bit of therapy this afternoon, but then he had more issues with his blood pressure being too low, so he's back asleep, hoping for a more theraputic day tomorrow.
Other than that, Matt had a slow day of rest - he's fighting headaches again and the medicine knocks him out. First thing this morning, he wanted meds, so I asked if he just wanted Tylenol or needed oxycodon, and he said "oxy - boom." Which is exactly what happens when he gets it- he was out for most of the morning. He had a little bit of therapy this afternoon, but then he had more issues with his blood pressure being too low, so he's back asleep, hoping for a more theraputic day tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tuesday evening
You won't believe what Crotched Mountain has - bowling lanes! Its candlepin bowling which took Matt a little while to get used to, but he figured out rather quickly how to work from his wheelchair and managed to beat me for a few frames. He's pretty excited to have the ability to go back there on the weekends.
Also, it's in the basement of the next building over, so it took a long time for Matt to manuever himself there, then we bowled for awhile, and then he made it almost all the way back. After this he had 1.5 hours of therapy, followed by lunch, and then another hour of therapy. He couldn't quite handle his last session this afternoon, but what a day! He is working harder and harder every day and its pretty amazing to be along for the ride.
Also, it's in the basement of the next building over, so it took a long time for Matt to manuever himself there, then we bowled for awhile, and then he made it almost all the way back. After this he had 1.5 hours of therapy, followed by lunch, and then another hour of therapy. He couldn't quite handle his last session this afternoon, but what a day! He is working harder and harder every day and its pretty amazing to be along for the ride.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Good New Year
Guess who got to visit yesterday! You should have seen Matt's eyes light up when we told him he could go outside and see Freddie. It's pretty cold and we have a lot of snow up here, so we couldn't stay outside for very long, but it made Matt's day. Our friends who are watching Freddie hadn't seen Matt in two weeks and were amazed at how he's progressing. And we were amazed at the differences they talked about, too - we've all forgotten the steps he's been through.
We've talked about writing all these things down, but we're not sure Matt's going to want to know and we're not sure we want to remember either! I figure this blog will be great for him if/when he wants to know what happened and that all the comments will be so helpful when rehab gets tough.
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