Update #47

Ryan had a quick speech therapy session. He scored a 27 on his assessment. The goal is to score a 25, so he exceeded his goal again. The therapist worked with him on correctly pronouncing words from a list. He told me that he feels like his left side is numb, including his mouth. So, sometimes he feels like he is talking out of the right side of his mouth. I can only imagine that it must feel like after the dentist numbs your mouth.

In PT, Ryan walked the length of the parallel bars three times. The last two times were much quicker than the first. Ryan is really getting better at controlling his steps and locking his left knee back on his own.

The therapist had him do 7 minutes on the seated stepping machine. Today was the first day I saw Ryan break a sweat during one of his sessions. I'm glad to see that they are working him hard. I know he pushes himself to the limit and would want them to do the same.

I have a really good friend taking care of our dog back in Virginia Beach. She brought our furry child, Sienna, to see us today. I could tell it really made Ryan happy to see her. It was the first real smile I've seen on his face since his injury. She instantly knew her "daddy" and ran right over to sniff him and lick his hand. She even jumped on the bed with him and crawled her way up to lick him on the face and neck. 

We went for a walk outside and let Sienna play in the grass and chew sticks (her favorite thing to do). I think Ryan really enjoyed the fresh air and watching Sienna do her thing.