Progress Update - 6/25/08

Steve had an Awesome Day yesterday!! I'm so excited to report about it!!

Danny spent several hours with him yesterday and shared all of this with me. He was so excited as well. But big step #1 was that Danny led Steve to accepting Jesus. :) Way to go!!!

Physical therapy progress was amazing as well...

As I think you know, his right side is the side that still has some paralysis issues. Well, yesterday, the therapist had him curling his arm (like showing he has a muscle), she had him make a right angle and put his arm down, then had him hold a water bottle and pretend he was going to drink from it. He was able to do ALL of those things!! She said Monday he could hardly move anything. What a huge step!

Then, they took him to the gym to get him set up on the parallel bars to stand up. Well, Danny said that they were so busy trying to get him to stand up, they weren't really helping him stand up. So he was doing that almost completely on his own!

Steve had such an amazing day! I know you are as excited as I was to hear about it!

Progress Update 6/24/08

Hello Everyone!!

Yesterday, Steve was fitted with a new trach. I know I'm going to screw up the specifics since I'm not a doctor, but...

Mom said it's called a passy muir valve. This new trach is cuffless and has a talking valve on it.

The cuffless part means Steve is swallowing/coughing on his own. The talking valve will allow him to actually talk out loud! :)

The talking part may take a while as it's been almost 7 weeks since the trach was put in. They also don't know the extent of the damage from the strokes yet. He'll have to relearn some things in order to talk as well. So it might take a little while, but this is a huge step.

If all goes well, then in about a week, they will cap the trach. This will see if he can function on his own without any help from the trach. If he does well with that, they will remove the trach and start introducing real food. Probably protein shakes and stuff like that at first, but the point is to wean him off of the feeding tube.

All of this is so positive and we are so excited!!

Thank you for your prayers - we can definitely see how God is working through Steve these days. Please keep it up!!

New Location Information

Steve is now at the Life Care Center of East Ridge.

1500 Fincher Ave. East Ridge, TN 37412

The number to the room there is 423-499-5441. He is in room 108.

Mom thinks the visiting hours are 8A-10P.

Change of location...

Just wanted to give a heads up. Steve is moving again in the next day or so. I don't have the details yet, but wanted to post to let you know.

I'll post more soon.

Evaluation Day

I didn't know this, but several doctors and other medical types evaluate Steve on a weekly basis. Mom said that so far today everyone has said he's improving and making progress. That's great.

They said his eyesight IS getting better. I'm so excited about this. This will open up more options for communication if he can read better.

Mom also said that they are going to get him into the gym today. Not sure what they will do there, but this will get him out of the bed more. Having been in the hospital not too long ago with pre-term labor, I was so sick of the bed and I was only there about 3.5 days. I can imagine he's miserable, so this will be a great break.

I think mom also said that his therapists are really pushing him a little more. telling him they know he can do these things and "making" him do it.

So, this is all great news. Sometimes it's hard for mom and others that see him regularly to notice these subtle improvements. But any improvement, no matter how small is a step in the right direction!!

Thanks everyone! Keep praying. Prayer is powerful and really is working in Steve. :)

Friends and Family - You are needed!!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for the long gap between updates. There really hasn't been too much to report. But now, we need your help!!

Steve is at the new facility. They are working with him every day. They do occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and breathing treatments. I am pretty sure they do all of these every day.

As we all know, this is right up Steve's alley. He's a fighter and having all this going on should really motivate him and excite him that he'll get better soon. Right?

Well, it's not! It could be he's depressed, he's tired, he's weak, etc, but he's just not into doing what he's asked so he can get better.

We can't stand for that, can we?? NO NO NO!

What I'm hoping you can do:

1 - Pray! Pray that he pushes through this and really starts to get into the program and helps himself out of this funk.

2 - Pep talks! If you go see him, he could really use a good pep talk. Maybe even a little bit harsh would be good - to give him a theoretical kick in the pants. Examples: Killer Bear Pep Talk, Halftime Soccer Pep Talk, etc. etc.

I know you guys can do this. Let's not let him down :)

Thanks!!

He's Moving Today!!

I haven't talked to mom yet, but David did and she sent out a text. So here are the details about where he's going :) I'll post more if there is anything important to add after I talk to her.

Steve is being transferred to Healthsouth. The address is 2412 McCallie Ave in Chattanooga. He will be in room 204. The number there is 423-697-9204. They should be there around 5.

This is great great news and should really speed up his progress with all the therapy/rehab he'll be getting.

YAY!!!

Had a rough night

Last night was pretty rough and might have set him back a little bit. After his 9pm breathing treatment mom noticed he was coughing a lot more than normal. This went on all night. She called the nurses in several times, but they couldn't figure out why. When the morning nurse came on he figured out what was wrong. The easy to understand version - there is a cuff around his tube in his throat that inflates so that it can block his saliva/secretions from going into his lungs. It had deflated. So a bunch of junk is now in his lungs. This can lead to infection, etc. So, they are waiting for a lung x-ray to see how bad it is and to get him back on the right path. Unfortunately we don't know more, but we're afraid this might delay his transfer to Healthsouth :(

So, neither he nor mom got much sleep at all last night - both are VERY tired today and will probably be napping as much as possible to catch up.

Important Info!! Please read...

I don't have much to update as of yet, but wanted to let you know of what is in the works.

They are in the process of getting Steve moved to a rehab center. This is awesome news, but isn't final yet. They have to get a couple more doctor signatures and the ok from the insurance company. The center is Healthsouth in Chattanooga. They already have a bed ready for him. He will be moving as soon as all of this goes through.

SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO VISIT THIS WEEK - please come back and check the blog. I'd hate for you to go to the hospital and he isn't there :)

I will update the blog as soon as we have any official information.

Weekend Update

Sorry for the late post, I've been trying to get on all day!

Friday/Saturday were pretty good. Steve did well with his therapy/rehab. He was very smiley and animated when we saw him Saturday afternoon. I think he really likes having his own room and doing a little more therapy than before. His room and bed are a little on the small side, but his doctor has a request to get him moved to a corner/bigger room and to get him a bigger bed.

Other than being in the hospital at all, I think his next biggest frustration is not being able to communicate with us. He tries so hard, but we just don't get what he's saying. David and I are gonna try to find something this week and bring it up to him and see if that helps.

Sunday he slept most of the day and was up a lot at night. So he's a little turned around. He still wakes up to see visitors, but is sleeping a lot in between.

Mom is working hard to get him in a better facility for rehab and stuff. We want something more agressive - something Steve would want as well. He needs more control :)

Sorry not much else to tell for now. Will be back soon though!!