Walking

Jake's physical therapists have really turned up the emphasis on walking the past few days. In order for him to go home, he needs to be independently mobile. They've had him practicing going up and down stairs, walking with a walker and walking with just someone behind him offering support under his arms. Today at the end of the therapy, they had him walk down a very long hallway. I'm terrible with distances, but it was about as far as two aisles in the grocery store. I had posted some video last week of his walking and have some more today. It's amazing to see the difference, he's working so hard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSX2jsgskSA

One of the things the therapists are struggling with is whether or not to put him in a leg brace. The muscles that need to activate the ankle are on the left side of the shin. It is slowly waking up and they can't decide if they want to give it more time to come back or put the brace on. The brace keeps the foot at a 90 degree angle so it's ready to go when he steps and could make walking a little easier. But they don't want his leg to become too dependent on the brace and slow down the natural muscle recovery. They'll continue to work with and without it this week before they decide for sure.

While he is working really hard and progressing every day, he still has a ways to go before they feel he is ready to go home. The rehab team bumped his discharge date back today from Aug 7th to Aug 14th. As much as Jake wants to go home, Todd and I want to give him the best possible foundation for outpatient therapy we possibly can and if it means a little more time in the hospital, we'll do it. We didn't communicate the Aug 7th date to Jake and won't give him the new date either. It could easily change again in either direction and we don't want him to get disappointed. We'll just keep adding X's to his "Road to Home" chart and continue working towards going home.

Specific Prayer Requests for Jake:
1. Continued strength and healing of the left leg muscles to aid in walking
2. Stamina to get through all his therapy without getting fatigued