Update #53

Today, the physical therapist had Ryan walking with the tall walker again. He did pretty well. He walked up then back down the hallway. The therapist still has to assist him quite a bit, but he is getting stronger.

In OT, the therapist had him take off and put on his shirt. They also had him brush his own teeth. His right hand coordination is getting a lot better.

KT worked with OT again today. First, the therapist had Ryan work on sitting up on his own. They leaned him from side to side to help him strengthen his core muscles. The therapist also had Ryan stand up a couple times in front of the mirror.

Speech therapy worked with Ryan's memory skills. They would list four then five items and ask him to repeat the list back. He did perfect with the list of four items, but had a little trouble with the list of five. (I don't blame him. I had a little trouble, too.) But, he still got about 6 out of 10 right.

The speech therapist came to lunch with Ryan to watch him eat. She wanted to make sure he was swallowing with no problems. She was very impressed with with his progress. He has no problems chowing down. (Of course, he never did.)

Vision therapy came to see Ryan in the afternoon. They did a few vision tests and determined that Ryan has 20/50 vision in his right eye and 20/30 vision in his left eye. He still has double vision and will need a patch to help correct it. The double vision can last up to six months after the injury. But, she is confident that Ryan's vision will get better over time.

There was a picnic on the patio this evening with a band. There was a band A local organization catered the event with meatloaf and other home cooked goods. I brought Ryan down stairs to hang out, but he said that there was just too much going on. Right now, Ryan is really sensitive to different sounds coming from different directions. So, I just grabbed a plate full of good food and brought him back upstairs to eat it.

Ryan's appetite is pretty good. He said he doesn't really know what hunger feels like right now, but he still eats everything on his plate. The nurses say that is really common and that he will get his appetite back in a little time.