Sunday, March 5

The first day at rehab was up and down.  Shar didn't sleep well, so she was exhausted in the morning.  However, she powered through for almost all her therapy sessions.  During OT, they got her out of bed and had her take tiny steps.  She got into a wheelchair and got freshened up a little bit.  She then had a long speech therapy session where they did an assessment of her cognitive function.  They now know what strategies to work on to help her overcome the deficiencies caused by the stroke.  During the speech therapy session, the two speech pathologists watched her eat lunch to make sure she was chewing and swallowing okay.  She is still on a semi-solid diet, and did a great job eating turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans for lunch.    

She also had two surprise visitors - her sister Lois and her nephew Rick stopped by for a few minutes during her Speech Therapy session.  

After a short break following lunch, she had physical therapy.  Although tired, she completed almost all the tasks asked of her in PT.  Following a post-PT nap, Jerry came in to visit and to spend the rest of the night with her.  She sat up in a wheelchair for dinner and for 30 minutes follwing dinner.  She also moved from the wheelchair to the bathroom and used the toilet for the first time - which might be TMI, but it is another milestone for her!  We are celebrating all her small successes!  

Tomorrow she has another aggressive schedule.  She has OT in the morning from 9-10 and again from 11-11:45 am.  Following that she has a short lunch break.  Afterward she has a short PT session from 12:30-1 and then again from 2-3.

A few people have asked about visiting, but Shar wants to get a little stronger before she has visitors.  When she is ready, the visitor's policy is that she can have 2 people in her room at one time which they monitor at the security desk.  In addition, she can't have visitors during the times that she has therapy.  

Even though she is very weak from the multiple surgeries and everything she endured in the hospital, we are so impressed with the progress she has made and how determined she is to get back to her regular life of home, friends, family, card club, breakfasts, etc.!