Update #58

In Group this morning, they worked with picture cards. The group had to identify what picture was on the card. After a few cards, they had to figure out what category the various images fell into. So, a car, truck and plane fell into the transportation category. Ryan said that he really likes playing games that get his brain working. 

Ryan’s PT session was moved to the afternoon, so he had a break between Group and his OT/KT session. Also, Ryan’s OT/KT session was cut short because the Recreational Therapist wanted to take Ryan on an outing.

In OT/KT, they stretched Ryan out. They did some arm exercises with Ryan’s left arm. I am really impressed by the progress he is making. He is able to move his left arm quite a bit. Like most of his body parts, the strength is there, it’s the coordination he needs to work on.

They did a range of motion exercise with Ryan. He had to move some rings up and over an arched pipe to the other side. He did excellent with his right arm. He attempted to move the rings with his left arm, but couldn’t get a good grip on the ring. He also had a hard time getting the ring over the highest part of the arch. But, every day he is improving. 

For Ryan’s outing, we went to a mexican restaurant a couple miles away (creatively named “Mexico Restaurant”). ;)

Ryan didn’t get nauseous at all this time. He said his trick was to look out the window and try to name all the cars in his head. 

For lunch, Ryan had a beef burrito and beef enchilada. He didn’t have room for the soft taco, but we took it home in case he wanted it later. He said he really liked the food, but the enchilada was a little hard to eat. I think he had problems with the corn tortilla. 

After the outing, Ryan went to PT. He warmed up on the Nustep (a seated stair-stepper). He also walked the parallel bars three times. Normally they wrap his left foot in a flexed position, but today they didn’t. He is getting more ankle coordination, so the therapist thought he’d try not wrapping the foot. 

Ryan is getting better every time he walks. He was stepping much better with his right leg and was controlling his left leg better, too.

As if Ryan’s three full meal trays weren’t enough today, Ryan had a total of FOUR bowls of ice cream. After PT, before dinner, Ryan had a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Then after dinner, Ryan had two bowls of chocolate ice cream and one bowl of vanilla. I told him that he was going to get fat, but he just said he’d “walk it off.” ;)

Tonight, when it was time for Ryan to get ready, I was so impressed because he took off his own shirt. All I had to do was help him lean forward a bit. But, he did everything else. The impressive part to me is that he initiated it. No one asked him to do it. He just wanted to be more independent.