Mirrors

Last week we went back to Crotched Mountain to see Matt's physiatrist and we talked about the lack of progress with Matt's arm. He suggested that we try mirror therapy again, which Matt tried months ago but hasn't used since. Apparently, studies are now showing that this therapy can 'jump start' an arm like Matt's sometimes. He has to sit with a mirror perpendicular to him with his right (non functioning) hand behind the mirror. Then by looking in the mirror while he moves his left hand, it appears to the mind that both of his arms are working. Try it for yourself - it's a little trippy. He's supposed to do this for at least 20 minutes a day for who knows how long and it might just start something.

In speech he's working as hard as ever and is making progress on sentences and some basic spelling. Right now he has pictures of objects and he tries to put together a sentence for each one like 'Here is one box. Here are two boxes.' The is/are distinction has been really difficult but he seems to be getting it now. Plural forms are also difficult and he'll often change their placements like 'Here ares two box.' This has been especially hard to correct because he doesn't understand how he said it wrong - it seems that he doesn't always hear what he says, he just sees what is on the paper and it looks correct. When he tries to write the sentences, he doesn't always know what letter he's looking for, but he does always know when he writes the wrong one. It's fascinating to watch him process through each word until he has the sentence correct. His therapist is always excited at the end of his sessions - she tells him all this will come back and be easy again, it's just taking time.

We were also talking about the date and Matt knew what today is. He couldn't come up with the word anniversary, but he told his therapist that today is 'you, me - married, 5.' We talked about where we were 5 years ago and how much has happened since then. We are so incredibly lucky and thankful that we get to have today together and for each next day that we get.

Look, no cane!

Here's Matt walking without a cane or his brace! It's blurry because he doesn't want to stop. He's only practicing this in PT right now, but as soon as he's strong enough, he can start walking around the house without the cane. Although I did come home the other day and he was on the couch with a sandwich while the cane was still in the kitchen...

Everything else is progressing as it has been - too slow for Matt. He continues to surprise me with sentences every once in a while and his vocab is still increasing. I am reminding him of less and giving fewer cues when he wants to tell his speech therapist something.

He's struggling with boredom and having rough days as a result - but at least he now realizes it and tells me later "wowee, bad day." I try to come up with ways for him to do things, but it doesn't always help - he knows I'm just trying to keep him busy and that makes him feel worse. As soon as the cane is gone for real, he says, things will be better.

Busy week

I know that I don't post that often any more - we're just so busy, I don't know where the time goes! It also seems that we've settled into our life and it feels 'normal' and somewhat less blog-worthy. It is certainly not because Matt has slowed down or is making less progress at this point. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

He's really working hard on his speech homework and when he doesn't think about it, he can ask complete questions and speak quite clearly. The other day, I was looking in a tree book and asked him if he knew something about witch hazel. He said,"Can you show me a picture? I think I know it, but I don't remember for sure." He didn't even realize he had said all of that - I had to point it out to him. But that's what we're looking for - clear communication without conscious effort.

Matt goes for a good walk everyday and he's getting pretty strong and fast (still with his cane). He was always a 'mosey-er' before and it feels like he's almost back to that pace. Then he gets on his new mower that has a left-hand joystick and he zips around the farm faster than I like to drive it. This mower has helped a lot to make him feel productive again - or at least it will now that it has stopped raining.

step by step

Last week Matt's therapist came out of the gym so excited - Matt moved his right foot all on his own! In order to flex his foot up, he has to engage his anterior tibialis - a muscle that runs along the shin - and when he had his evaluation two weeks ago, she couldn't feel any movement in that muscle. Now he's doing foot flexes whenever he's sitting down. He still has to wear his leg brace at home, but they are starting to practice walking without it in therapy. He says give him six more weeks to get rid of the cane & brace, but we'll see.

Today in speech he told his therapist a complete sentence about what he did this weekend and used the terms today, yesterday, and tomorrow. She said that the homework he's had so far was really concentrating on cognitive recall and that it seems he doesn't need that as much anymore. Now we need to work on sound sequencing and words and how to get his thoughts out. He likes to say thinking is good, speaking is bad. At one point today, he even said his thinking was brilliant. He-he.

[I just realized that it might be difficult to dig through all the posts to find our contact info, so I've updated my profile on the opening page. You'll find our address and my email there.]

Working hard

Matt's had a couple of rough weeks recently - he is working so hard, but he can't see enough progress and is quite frustrated. The last few days, however, have been better and he'll at least listen to me when I say he is progressing. I don't think he really believes me, but at least he is listening.

Last week, he talked on the phone to a few people and actually carried on conversations. He was pretty thrilled. In OT, they work with his arm mostly by having his therapist move his arm while he thinks about moving it. On Thursday, she said that she could feel little muscle twinges in his lower arm right below his elbow as she moved his arm forward. It's not really movement, but that's how his leg started 4 months ago. Then on Friday, I watched him pull his arm back a little bit on his own! His OT reminded him that he hasn't used these muscles in 6 months and anyone who had their arm in a cast that long would have to work to get movement again, but that he is also retraining his brain at the same time. He has to concentrate so hard and gets so tired while trying to move that arm - it's definitely the hardest job he's ever had!

One month home

I can't believe we've been home for a month already - the time has flown by. We went back to Crotched Mountain last week for some outpatient therapy and it seemed like a million years since we'd been there. It was nice to see some of the people Matt had worked with and they all said he's looking great and sounding so much better.

We've been noticing little signs of progress in Matt's speech and he continues to be surprised every time we mention them. He's been remembering names so much better and doesn't just point at me anymore - he knows I'm Keri and he can say the names of people who've visited him without using his book. He also seems to be thinking more complete thoughts and using simple, full sentences to get his point across.

He's working really hard in PT and is walking quite well at this point. He even tried to give me his cane last week after I'd thrown out my back because he thought I needed it more than he did. His ankle isn't really working yet, but he can lift his leg higher and can bend his knee more without using his hand for help. Even people in the waiting room at therapy have noticed his improvement over the last few weeks.

Wednesday morning

Another quick week and things are going well - Matt is working so hard and is super busy with all his homework. He started OT last Friday and he really likes this therapist, too. She said it's good that he has some feeling in his shoulder - it's something to work with and a place to start. He's still struggling with a lot of tone in his hand, which is when the muscles are uncontrollably tense all the time. He has a hard splint that he spends 6-8 hours a day in to stretch out his fingers and his therapist says she can get his hand to relax more than before. Again, a good place to start.

Reading is slowly coming along - it's still really difficult to read full sentences, but he's getting through more of the list each day. Yesterday he asked his ST to give him longer sentences to try and she was thrilled. I've noticed him struggling with the desire to say more lately and the inability to find all the words he wants. Last night he really wanted to ID the birds we heard during dinner and it was driving him crazy not to know the names. We grabbed the field guides and he pointed them all out - if only we had field guides for everything!

I did drive him out to the woods this weekend and we wandered around a bit looking at wildflowers which seemed to make him quite happy. Now as he wanders further from the house he sees more of the work he wants to be doing and it's quite a struggle. Most of the time, he keeps up a pretty good sense of humor and says "add it to your list!" and shakes his cane at me. He's managed to remember the word 'supervisor' and is pretty good at it.