James had two days of pool therapy this week. The physiotherapist at the Monday pool therapy was great. She did a lot of working one on one with James. She had some great ideas and James worked really worked well with her. We didn't go to the pool on Wednesday night this week, so he just had the two days of pool this week. On Wednesday night James' amazing rehab doctor was doing a session about traumatic brain injury. James and I decided to skip the trip to the pool so we could go to that. It was great. We met some lovely people who are going through similar experiences, and learned a lot about brain structure, what happens in a brain injury and about rehab options. It was well worth the time!
On Wednesday morning there was a meeting of the physiotherapists to brainstorm about ideas to help James. It was great, and James handled it all very well. There were about 10 therapists there and at times they were all around him talking, telling him what to do, and they all had there hands on him. He took it all in stride. A year ago that would have been impossible! They came up with different ideas on how to strengthen some of the muscles that are showing weakness and making it difficult for James to walk. Basically it was decided that his hip muscles need to be strengthened.
On Thursday evening James and I were invited by a family member to attend an interactive play at UBC. It was very interesting! A skit was preformed once, and a story brought to a climax, and then it was repeated. The second time through audience members would yell stop at what they saw as a pivotal part of the play, and they would go up and take the place of a character of their choice. Then they would change something about what that character was doing to try to achieve a different outcome. The rest of the actors would improvise and play into the change. It was very entertaining, and a great way to open dialogue about some difficult situations. James and I both enjoyed ourselves a lot!
We met with the psychologist today to go over test results from the cognitive assessment that James participated in a few weeks ago. She said that James' vocabulary is at a normal level for his age. Since he doesn't speak very well at this point they had to adapt the tests, but through typing and signing he proved that he has a great vocabulary, it is just sometimes difficult for him to express that because of his limited speech. His comprehension is great too. His working memory or short term memory is good, but he has trouble storing longer term memory. One of his biggest challenges is attention. He is very easily distracted. It seems like a lot of the learning difficulties that he had before the accident are amplified.
There was a meeting back home this week with the community groups that are providing services for James in our own community. They have come up with a wonderful plan for the interm when James and I get back home . He will have home and community care come in and help him get ready in the morning, five days a week, and he has a worker from a day program come and pick him up after that. He will be with his day program worker until 330 in the afternoon. She will do speech excercises with him, take him to physio appointments, take him to the pool for some pool therapy 3 times a week, and take him to karate once a week! She will also help him access community events that he is interested in. He is going to be a very busy boy when we get home!
We have gotten word that James has been officially accepted to the adolescent and young adult inpatient program! He will come back to Gf Stronge as an inpatient in mid November! They will work more on his speech, becoming more independent getting around without his wheelchair, and explore his ability to access the community. We are so lucky to have the opportunity for James to get more official rehab! He must be one special guy, because so many professionals are bending over backwards to help him here!
James will be seeing ear, nose and throat doctor next week to go over results from his hearing assessment that he had a few weeks ago.
There will be a discharge meeting on Tuesday to make sure that James' transition home goes smoothly. There will be some assessments that need to be done when he is home. We will need an occupational therapist to reassess how he gets around the house and give us some ideas about how to facilitate him being able to get around the house without his chair.
James girlfriend came and visited last weekend. James wanted to take her to the aquarium, so we went to the Aquarium again.
James will be working hard on finishing his art therapy project this week! The big reveal should be next weekend! It is going to look awesome!
No comments:
Post a Comment