Ryan went to physical therapy this morning. First they worked with Ryan on holding himself upright in a seated position. He is still a bit wobbly, but is getting better. They then put Ryan on all fours (like a crawl position). This helps with weight bearing on his arms, shoulders, hips and core. He did really well. He impressed the therapists by holding his head up for most of the time in that position.
After doing so well on all fours, Ryan's therapist thought he might want to try standing again. So, we got him to a standing position for about 60 seconds the first time and 45 seconds the second time. He did really well. He is getting more head and neck control every day. His legs are getting stronger every day as well.
Occupational therapy and kinesiotherapy worked with Ryan at their usual time. They did some work with his left arm. The positioned both arms on a table. While holding the right arm down, they asked him to bring both arms in towards his chest. He was able to move his left arm the whole way while attempting to move both. But, when asked to move his left arm individually, he could only move it a little.
Speech therapy worked with Ryan on tongue movements and vocalizing on command. The came in a little later than normal and Ryan was pretty tired. He wasn't very responsive to the tests. So, they decided to give him a break.
Ryan's doctor talked to me about the results of the EEG. He said that it showed no sign of seizures. After a few questions, I asked him if it would show if Ryan had already had a seizure. He told me that it only detects seizures as they happen. I joked with him that it must be pretty hard to catch them. But, during the EEG the doctor had put some sunglasses with flashing lights attached to them on Ryan. This kind of light pattern would have induced a seizure if Ryan were prone to getting one. They continue to be sensitive to Ryan's possibility to have a seizure because of the location of his brain injury.
The EEG also measured "brain waves" in the different lobes of Ryan's brain. It showed lowered or altered wave patterns in his temporal and frontal lobes as well as his occipital (back of his head) lobes. This is easily explained by his diffuse axonal injury. Though the impact was only on one side of his head, the internal injury (diffuse = all over) is spread throughout his brain.
They are going to do another EEG on Monday. This will show his brain waves while on the drug that is supposed to be stimulating his brain's activity.
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