Daniel's Friday Update

So much to update since I didn't do an update yesterday. Where to start?

Daniel was moved from Norton Audubon (which did a great job) to Southern Indiana Rehabilitation Hospital on Thursday afternoon. He'll be there until Christmas Eve when he'll be coming home. SIRH is located in New Albany just off Charleston Road, south of I-265. The road it's on is Blackiston Road and it's pretty easy to find. He's definitely taking visitors - his mornings are pretty well booked with therapy, but his afternoons and evenings are free. He loves getting visitors. You can also call him on his cell phone - 812-493-5633.

Dr. Nazar still didn't have results from the Pathologist, but he was very confident that the tumor was not malignant. He sent it off to a Pathologist at Johns Hopkins who is supposed to be The Expert. Per Dr. Nazar, he wrote the book that Dr. Nazar studied from when he was in school. That's good enough for me!

Today he had an intensive morning of therapy - Occupational Therapy from 815-900, Physical Therapy from 915-1045, and more Occupational Therapy from 1115-1200. They wore Daniel out, but it was really good. Some high points:

1. Daniel's been concerned about areas of muscle weakness or tingly feelings. The two therapists told Daniel these can all be fixed. With spinal injuries or surgeries the real problems are when there is NO sensation or movement. Since everything works, albeit less than optimally, it's only about improving function, not worrying about whether there ever will be function. 

2. They did extensive testing today, including sensitivity testing (no, not that kind). They touched him with a calibrated thread/wire/hair that appied a given amount of pressure. By using different wires, they could determine just how sensitive different areas were. He could always detect touches at some point, it was just that the more sensitive areas could detect super fine touches and the others less fine. Again, this tied in to the conclusions, above, that everything is connected and working, it just needs time and therapy to fully recover.

3. Daniel was up and down stairs, walked 150 feet to the therapy gym, and is generally getting around really well now. Based on the tests and what he was able to do today, evryone is convinced that he'll be able to meet the goal of being home for Christmas. Yippee!

The weather was finally nicer today. It's been dreary and cold for the entire time Daniel's been in the hospital. However, today the temps reached the mid-60's and the sun was shining. It was a wonderful day, even if it was windy as heck. So, after getting approval, we went rollabout! Daniel put on his coat and hat, I loaded Daniel in the wheelchair, and we took a couple laps around the sidewalk. So nice! The fresh air was great for both of our spirits.

Daniel has therapy every day, including Saturday and Sunday. He's doing great, improving every day, listening and learning from the therapists, and staying as optimistic as anyone ever could. Everyone at this facility loves him already, but that's pretty normal with Daniel. 

Nancy and Maggie are going down tomorrow, so I might not get an update done, but we'll see.