Two weeks left!

James has been at GF Stronge for 6 weeks now!  Wow,  time flies!  James has made lots of progress while he has been here,  but he still isn't quite as independent with his mobility or his speech as I had hoped.  His speech has definitely improved.  He just needs someone to supervise his transfers if he doesn't have a pole or rail to help him.  He is now completely independent at preparing his toothbrush and brushing his teeth.  He is also only needing a bit of help to transfer to the bath bench. I still wash his hair,  but he washes and rinses himself.  His balance and core strength has improved,  but he still requires a standby assist with his walker.  I went and spoke to his doctor here about it this week.  I talked to her about the possibility of transferring James to Ponoka,  Alberta for some longer term rehabilitation.  She suggested another option though!  She said that she would talk to the team about James coming back as an inpatient for another two to four months!  The whole team agreed and she is going to organize him coming back in November!  I will probably come over on the weekends to visit him.  He will be part of the adult and young adult program,  and will be mostly with younger patients.  I am hoping that he makes a few friends too!  

Next Wednesday we will be going in to physio a bit early to be part of a meeting where the other physiotherapists will put their ideas together on different ideas on how to help James.  I am really looking forward to this meeting!  James has been on the body assisted treadmill some more this week.  He has been pretty consistent at getting up to the goal of 3 km/ hr speed and is walking for a total of about 15 minutes now!  His occupational therapist and physiotherapist got together for a session together with James on the treadmill.  It was pretty cool.  Another two therapists joined in and James covered the most ground yet!  He went a total of 700 meters!  Almost 3/4 of a kilometer!  He was totally exhausted afterward,  but he seems to recover quite quickly!  The doctor was nearby and came to see what was going on because she could hear James' occupational therapist cheering James on.  It was quite the party going on!  Next week James is going to do some work with the physio departments big tall walker.  A big goal is to get him independent on his walker,  and part of that is getting him to stay more upright.  The tall walker will help with that goal.  We will also do some work with the one hand on the rails and the other hand using the cane.  James' eventual goal is to walk with only a cane someday!

Starting next week James will be getting 2 days a week of pool therapy in the pool at Gf Stronge and one night a week at the Stan Stronge pool with recreational therapy.  That is a total of three days a week in the pool.  I am happy about that.  

His speech therapist was pretty excited this week because she is starting to hear some fairly consistent "k" sounds.  This has been a very difficult and elusive sound for James.  He now has a list of "k" sounds to practice!  He has moments where his speech is much clearer now.  I am not sure that just anyone would understand much of what he says,  but those who hear him speak a lot are understanding him more!  I am trying to encourage him to say "hi" to more people instead of just nodding to them.  He did pretty good with it today!  I often get him to head to class either without me or a bit before me.  His psychologist stopped to talk to me in the hall today and she was excited that when she passed James a minute before,  he said a very clear and loud "hi" to her!  

The t shirt that James is painting in art therapy is coming along very nicely!  He has the back finished and is now painting the front.  It is going to look so cool!  He goes and paints it for about an hour a day Monday to Thursday.  He loves it and is so proud of his work!

We went to the aquarium with James' Auntie Paige last weekend.  We had a blast as usual!  James loved the 4D theater.  We also got to see the octopus being fed!  It was amazing!  The octopus was changing color depending on where in the tank he was!  He went from purple,  to looking like he was covered with white barnacles, to all white.  It was fascinating!  We are heading back to the aquarium with James' Girlfriend tomorrow!  We are getting lots of use out of the yearly pass for James!