The Road to Home

I mentioned the other day what a hard time Jake was having recognizing his progress and a couple of people suggested I show him some of the video's from when he first started therapy. Yesterday morning we sat down and watched them. Many of them I hadn't shared on the blog but had recorded just for us. I also showed him the picture from when he was first in the ICU and hooked up to IV's, a breathing tube, and was swollen from the surgery. We talked for quite awhile about what he couldn't do then and what he can do now. I'm not sure it sunk in 100%, especially when I pointed out in a video that the therapists were helping him hold his head up, and he said "They didn't need to do that, I could have done it on my own." However, we didn't have any "I'm not making progress" conversations today, so maybe it registered a little.

Jake was talking about wanting to go home the other day when my Dad was here, and

when he came to visit a couple of days later, he brought this poster. I love this idea more than checking days off a calendar because our discharge date can change. It reinforces to Jake that even though he doesn’t like the therapy, that’s what’s going to get him in shape to go home, and each time he has therapy he puts an “X” and it shows that he’s a little further down the road and a little closer to being home. We just need to be careful his "X's" stay close enough together and we don't run out of room before it's time to actually go home!

It really is incredible to see how much progress he's making every day. Here is a short montage of some of what he did today.  http://youtu.be/DJ5XPmdZOJU  They have this really cool swing and he was able to hold onto the rope with his left hand and was helping push with his left leg. They also had him go side to side. They do a lot of opposite movements to work both sides of the muscle, extending and contracting, pushing and pulling (like he and Luke are doing with the big orange ball), etc. Luke in his normal fashion was quite animated. :-)