slowly coming along

Matt's been doing pretty well since my last post. He goes to therapy alone almost all the time now and the only update I get from him is that his appointment went fine. But then the last few times he has come home happy and tells me that he notices a difference. He even said that speech went well last week - and he never believes us when we tell him he is communicating better.

Today I went along to OT and I saw him move his wrist up slightly without any assistance. He still needs e-stim to be able to pull his wrist all the way back, but to see him move it at all on his own was pretty amazing. He is far from having much functional use in his arm, but each little improvement helps.

Back to therapy

It's been a month since Matt's surgery and things are slowly coming along. He still gets tired pretty easy and is frustrated by how long it is taking to really feel better. His therapists keep reminding him that with a head injury he's particularly susceptible to that post-surgery crappy feeling. I think he was hoping to bounce back and be amazingly better by now and it's hard to be stuck in this slow process again. It's especially hard since spring has come along with all the farm work he wants to be doing and he has to admit he can't do it.

He has been back in speech and OT the past two weeks and they are going well. Whenever we see people or Matt talks on the phone, they say he sounds better than ever. He's even used full sentences when he complains to me about how frustrated he feels. His OT was amazed that he wasn't set back further - in fact, he had improved while he was away from therapy. He's gaining more muscle control in his arm, particularly in bending and straightening his elbow. But because of what he wants to do around the farm, none of this progress is fast or strong enough for him and it's going to be a real test of his patience to get through it.

Home again

Matt actually ate breakfast this morning and was feeling so much better than last night, so they said he could go home today. Once I recovered from watching them remove the drain from his head, they sent us on our way. He's doing really well and back to relaxing on the couch. He'll go back in a few weeks to get the staples removed and later for a follow-up CT, but everything seems good so far.

All is well

Matt is done with surgery and everything went great. I won't be able to see him for a few hours, but the surgeon said he is doing fine. He said that the bone piece was quite a bit smaller than the plastic piece they put in, so now Matt's head will be nice and round and everything will be very protected.

Finally time

We've got Matt's surgery time now and he is really ready for this to be done. We have to be at Dartmouth bright and early and the surgery should start around 7:30. I will post as soon as I can about how everything went. We've been so busy thinking about the surgery that we almost forgot yesterday was April 16th - the day Matt moved out of Crotched Mountain last year! We can't believe how fast this year went by, even though Matt's progress feels so slow. Can't wait to see how the next year goes, especially with his new plastic head.

On the road again

After months of waiting, training, more waiting and testing, Matt is back in the driver's seat and is so very happy. We had to trade his truck in for a car that was going to work better for him and last week we took it in to have a left-foot accelerator and steering knob installed. Adaptive equipment is pretty amazing - and it pops out whenever I need the car. He's been driving to therapy and running errands with me all week and is doing fantastic.

There are still two weeks left before Matt's surgery and he's starting to get nervous. He knows it needs to happen and started out 3 weeks ago ready to have it done, but as it gets closer it's more and more scary.

date set

We went to Dartmouth yesterday to get all the prep work done for Matt's surgery - they did all the pre-op tests and the CAT scan they need to make his plastic implant. As much as we want it to be done quickly, it's going to be a long process to get the new piece ready, so his surgery is set for April 18th. He was really worried that he would be laid up again as much as he was last summer, but his nurse said that once he recovers from surgery (1-2 weeks) and takes it somewhat easy for a few more weeks, he'll be back to long walks and mowing again no problem.

Then we came back and had his regular therapies - his OT re-eval went great and he's scheduled for another month. Almost all of his muscle groups showed increased strength, increased range of motion, or both. He even earned his first 'within normal limits' on one muscle movement - with his elbow bent 90 degrees, he could pull his forearm all the way to his stomach!