Back at GF Stronge!

James went back to GF Stronge last Thursday!  It was hard leaving him there to come home. I am sure he will do fine,  but it is hard not to worry about him!  He got his schedule yesterday.  I am glad that it looks like they will keep him busy!  He has Occupational therapy at 9 am,  Physio at 10 am,  and two half hour speech sessions at 11 am and 2 pm.  They are also talking about putting him in pool therapy twice a week and one session a day with a rehab assistant to work on his walking. As well as getting him involved in music therapy and art therapy.  He will be going to the recreational pool session on Wednesday nights too.  There is also wii games nights on Mondays and Thursdays.  Monday night games night is on the spinal injury floor,  and I understand that there are a couple of young guys there. I will be going back over to visit James on the weekend.  I will probably go over on Friday night,  and come home again on Sunday night.  

Here we go again!

We got the phone call from GF Stronge about James going back for more therapy!  He checks in to the hospital next Thursday!  He will be an inpatient for the next few months.  My plan is to go over and visit with him on the weekends.  James is actually quite excited about going back,  and says that he is looking foreword to hospital food!  Lol!  He will be working with a new set of therapists,  so I am looking foreword to meeting them all on Thursdays and Friday next week.  It has been a busy week, with trying to get organized to go back to Vancouver.  I will blog more after we get to Vancouver !

October 2013

We took James over to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago for a Neuro Opthomologist  appointment.  He has to have some more tests on November 15 th to figure out exactly how much double vision he has,  and how well his eyes are working together.  I am amazed at how well he actually has adapted to his vision changes and is able to tune out one of the images when he starts to see double.  The doctor said that surgery is possible to correct the double vision,  but since he is still healing there is no rush on making that decision.  The longer we wait the better.  He also feels that the damage to the nerves around James' eye are due to trauma to the eye and not due to the brain injury.  James did great during the assessment and used his voice quite a bit to communicate with the doctor.  

While we were in Vancouver we also stopped in to see the coordinator at GF Stronge.  I was hoping to get an actual date for when James goes back as an inpatient.  She said that she should know better after November 5 th.  They will have a meeting to discuss bed availability on that date.  She did say that it would likely be the week after rememberance day.   When he does get a bed,  I will go over on The  weekends,  but I won't stay over there during the week.  

James is doing well at his day program.  His worker is great,  and they seem to get along well.  He is excited about wearing his costume to his program tomorrow.  He loves Halloween and is looking foreword to handing out candy tomorrow night.  

James is doing better at walking all the time.  He definitely is still making good progress.  Slow and steady!  I can feel quite a difference in his balance when I walk with him.  He is walking laps with his walker around the hallways of the day program building everyday.  He walked around 2 and a half laps yesterday!  We did have to bribe him with root beer to increase his number of laps though!  

Home again, home again....

It feels so good to be home again!  Last Friday was James last day at the GF Stronge intensive day program!  He was so excited to be going home!  He woke up at about 330 am. and transferred into his chair while I was sleeping.  I was woken up by James saying, " hey mom! " from his chair at the end of my bed.  He briefly argued with me about whether or not it was time to get up,  then he went back to bed.  It was a busy day of packing up and saying goodbye to all his therapists.  When he goes back again he won't have any of the same therapists.  His OT said that he will touch base and consult with his OT and PT when James comes back for the in patient program in November.  We don't have an exact date for that program to start yet,  but the doctor was pushing for mid November.  

We are well into our routine at home now.  I have gone back to work and James is going to a day program, 5 days a week.  His one to one worker picks him up at 930 Monday to Friday,  and brings him home at 330.  He does his speech  and physio excercises with her and they go swimming twice a week,  to adapted karate one a week,  and she takes him to physio appointments three times a week! They wil also check out the local gym and possibly use the stationary bike there.  He is a busy boy!  There is also a worker who comes in each morning and helps him keep on track with his morning self care.  They will also do a few walking and balance excercises with him too. 

James private OT and the community PT came by this morning to assess his walking with his walker and his transfers.  We are going to take out his bedside transfer rail.  The PT said she was very impressed with the difference in the fluidity of his movements and that his walking and transfers have improved a lot since she saw him about three months ago.   

James finished his t shirt that he was working on in art therapy.  It turned out wonderfully!  Unfortunately red paint that he used on it didn't set and as soon as it got wet the red parts disintegrated!  Luckily I took lots of pictures of it and I think we can transfer a picture of it on to a black t shirt for him.  He put so much work into that t shirt and was so proud of it.  

One week left!

One more week until we sleep in our own beds and see the rest of the family! I am so looking foreword to getting home!  

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!

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!  

Another busy week!

James' community NeuroPhysiotherapist from back home came to see him in his physio session at GF Stronge today!  He did awesome on the treadmill today!  He increased his time to a total of 14 and a half minutes, and they got his speed up to 3 km/hr!  That has been the goal,  because the movement for walking is actually stored in the spinal cord.  Since James spinal cord was not damaged,  that part is still intact.  That piece kicks in at about 3 km/ hr and walking becomes more automatic at that speed.  

Speech is trucking along,  slow but steady progress.  As there is only 3 more weeks left,  I am starting to think about what things will look like when we get back home again.  I am feeling concerned about the lack of accessible speech therapy back home.  He will need speech therapy for some time yet,  and twice a month is not enough!  

James got to trial a few three wheel bikes this week.  There was one that worked really well for him.  It was slightly recumbent with steering on the sides.  He just whipped around the figure eight at GF Stronge!  

The Occupational therapist that James worked with the first week,  came back from vacation.  They are working on the function of James right hand.  James had a new hand splint made last week and he is now wearing it at night.  It is working out great!  James will be going to OT at a different time starting next week,  and that will open up pool therapy twice a week for him!  On Wednesday nights we go to the Stan Stronge pool with recreational therapy,  so that gives him pool therapy three times a week!  

James got to go to wii and games night with the inpatients last night.  He played Mario cart a bit and also played wii sports resort.  A volunteer played with him and he really enjoyed himself.  He will go to that on Monday and Thursday nights until we leave.  He is still going to wheelchair sports on Tuesdays, and art therapy Mondays to Thursdays.  He has something to go to most nights of the week now!

Last weekend the family came over and we went to the aquarium.  Also James' gramma came over and his great auntie Jane and uncle Leslie came up from Washington!  We had a lovely picnic at queen Elizabeth park.  It was a great weekend!