Alex did fantastic today! He was determined and gave it his all today! We started off at 9:00 am with cognitive and speech therapy for 30 min. In that 30 minutes they evaluated his understanding of things such as
(his answers in red) ; age: 16, his birthday: March 30, his being able to point to certain things: nose, ceiling, mom, tongue, his favorite subject: history, his least favorite subject: he signed ALL, lol...too cute! Speech therapy evaluated his ability to cough while trach was covered with finger, his ability to make sound while trach was covered with finger, how well he swallows, how well his tongue muscles work. Then we came back to room for 30 min break. At 10am we went to Physical and Occupational Therapy where they evaluated movement in arms, legs and torso and head control with various exercises, sitting up, leaning, legs moving back and forth, etc. Then back to room for hour break in which he passed out for a quick nap till 11:30 then off to physical therapy. This physical therapy session we went to the big gym where they had some parallel bars. She scooted his wheelchair up to the bars and supported him so he could stand. HE STOOD! 3 different times for about 3-5 minutes in a 30 minute session!! THANK YOU GOD! At one point I noticed he had a tear trickling down his face. I asked him if he was crying or if it was just his eye watering... it was a tear! (Broke my heart) The tear was because he was in pain.... his neck was hurting from having to hold his head up while standing. I told him how proud I was of him, he was my hero and how he was that much closer to getting home.... he gave me a thumbs up! INCREDIBLE! Not an I want to stop, or I have had enough... but a thumbs up to keep going! ATTA BABY! Amazing, Amazing Kid! We then had a break until 1:00 pm and went back to speech therapy for more evaluation on swallowing and to see if we can get him on some real food. She did some tests with him, one example is she took a cup of water, put some blue dye in it and gave him a spoon or two of water out of the cup. This was to determine if what he was swallowing.... was going into his lungs or into his stomach. If when he coughed and blue dye came out of the trach, it was going into his lungs and he wouldn't be ready for the swallow evaluation at memorial. NO BLUE DYE CAME OUT....YAY GOOD THING, LOL! Alex told us yesterday and repeatedly today that he is "sooo hungry".... break my heart again..aaaaaaaaaaaahhh. Because he did so well today, the speech therapist scheduled us for the swallow study at memorial on Monday, the latest Tuesday... PRAY FOR MONDAY. The sooner the test, the sooner he can have food!! OVERALL GREAT PROGRESS TODAY...SOOO PROUD OF YOU ALEX!!!
Tonight we hung out, had Bono's delivered to us, thanks to Shannon and Debbie.... Alex had some visitors and we watched him as he slept haha. He went to sleep about 7 from being tuckered out from such a rigorous day and is now WIDE AWAKE...YAY..... NOT! He is cracking us up as he has gotten hold of the TV remote and has been going to town all day with it. Just flipping thru channels, stopping once every 20 minutes to watch something for one second and then back to flipping ....aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. It's like a baby with a new toy or watching the Goonies 12 times in a row, lol! He is beautiful sitting there doing it and as long as he is breathing he can flip thru the channels allllllll night long...AMEN!
A huge thank you to the Hawkins family tonight! They came across some old video tapes of Alex, Cameron and Charles and their homemade talk show. They had a special DVD made for me and gave it to me tonight. We all sat here and watched it and LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF! Alex Michael... you are a trip! One of the funniest kids I have ever known and it was medicine for my soul! You will be back to your old self in no time and if I can find a way to share these video's I will, because this might just get you a sports casting job, lol! Thank you, thank you , thank you my sweet friends as that was much needed and I can't thank you enough for that thoughtful gesture! Alex said to tell you thank you for his "Fierce" cologne.....he may have to wear it to therapy and get in good with the ladies round here, lol!
We do have therapy over the weekend... not really sure what. I am told it is lighter on the weekends but we are up for any challenge. They are having a tail gate party for superbowl downstairs on Sunday... should be fun to get Alex out and about! We can actually take him out of the room and down to the rec room or outside if weather is nice, where he can see a group of people at once. NICE!
We are settling in, Alex is doing great things and I couldn't be more proud! I miss my Nurses tremendously and hope they will come for a visit REALLY SOON! Dr. Garcia.... THANK YOU for calling today .... YOU MADE MY DAY! Alex won't let you guys down... 4-6 weeks is my prediction, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
THANK YOU GOD FOR ONE MORE DAY WITH MY HANDSOME BOY!!! He won't let you down either!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!!
Lisa
