We have been in San Antonio now for 4 days. It has been good but exhausting but exhilarating at the same time.
Nathan is really doing miraculously well. He is trying to talk, now the tracheotomy is out, and succeeding for the most part but he has some muscles in his mouth that need strengthened according to his speech therapist. There are sentences that are completely understandable but for the most part but there is often a word that has letters he can't say yet so we have to have him spell that out. It is frustrating for him because it takes so long for him to get the sentences out. I can understand why Sara is so exhausted because just trying to understand Nathan is a full time job. He sounds like my friend who has cerebral palsy so at least I have had some practice.
We were able to attend Nathan's different therapy classes on Monday. In Recreational therapy they were working on getting the muscles in his fingers working by playing a game of tic tac toe on the IPad. They also take him outside and work on different social skills. Tomorrow they are taking him to a barbecue.
In Occupational Therapy she was excited to find that Nathan could use the joystick and guide his wheel chair and so despite the fact she had other things planned she took him around the outside of the gym giving him a chance to use this method of guidance. They had put an assistive device on his chair so he could drive it by turning his head from side to side but he actually did better with the joystick in his hand. They said that they would probably not need the head guide. She then took him inside and they worked with a program that helps him to type words and phrases by using his eyes to guide the computer mouse on the keyboard. This is still hard for him but he is able to type in words to help him communicate. It helps him right now to express things that are still hard for him to say.
In Physical Therapy he practiced moving from his wheelchair to a bed with some help from them and a board. Then they helped him to roll over to one side and then the other. All of his limbs are working some. Then they helped him to sit up into a sitting position and then taught him to lean on one elbow and then another. Then they used that to teach him how to get into the wheelchair again using the same board. It was really hard work for him I could tell but he did not give up. It was a common theme in all the classes that the therapists said that Nathan was where he was because of his hard work. He is way beyond where the doctors thought he might be by now.
He has a psychological session that no one is allowed to attend. Then he had a speech therapy session. They just recently decided to move him to afternoon with his speech because he did so well in his session on Monday. They are teaching him how to strengthen his muscles in his mouth and throat and diaphragm. He practiced some of the sounds and did a great job. But it is still hard for him and his assignment is to talk as much as he could and to not use the head shakes to communicate any more. Again he was commended for his hard work. They just took the tracheotomy out less than a week ago.
It is hard to believe that he has come so far in about 6 weeks. When I left then he was just able to turn his head from side to side and blink. He has surely been blessed as he was promised. But he gets all emotional when you say that, he says, "No, No, No." Then he starts to cry. When I asked him why he says that he says wants to be better like he was before. I told him he needs to think of where he is not where he was before the stroke but how much he has progressed since the stroke. He is extremely frustrated that he is not like he used to be and cannot see the good of the improvement he is making. I am hoping through prayer to help him see that he is accomplishing a great thing and he will grow from it.
He is also very frustrated by the fact that he has to take medicine and is often refusing to take his meds because he feels like they are giving him things he does not need. Today he refused to take his antidepressant and by night he was having a hard time controlling his emotions and a harder time talking. I encouraged him to take it because the doctors said it would help him to think better and be able to concentrated better. We will see what happened tomorrow. But helping him to get the issue out in the open enabled him to reemphasize that he wants to be told what he is taking and what it is for. He is very emotional about this subject. I think it stems from the fact that he is very emotional about his lack of privacy in personal matters because he cannot do things for himself. He feels that the meds compound the number of bowel movements he is having and he would like to have none, which is not possible.
He is very childlike and tells me at least 20 times a day, "Thank You" and "I love you". He says that he is so glad that I could come and be with him. He does not remember when we came before and does not remember the stroke so I think that is a blessing. I have often prayed that he would be comforted in his feelings when He was locked in. It appears that the Lord answered that blessing by putting a cloud of forgetfulness over his mind. I have often heard that the mind shuts down when the body is experiencing hard things but I also know that he appeared to be conscious and mentally responding to our questions during that time. Sometimes he becomes the adult and looks like he is very much the same as he was before so I think that the emotions are part of the recovery.
Will post more tomorrow if I can. Needless to say he misses Sara and the kids very much but he is glad they are having fun.
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