His usual physical therapist was out and he had a young, cute therapist to work with! Of course, he hated that! He's still such a flirt! Here's a list of the things she worked on...
> stretching and range of motion exercises for his right shoulder, arm, wrist and hand.
> she had Dad lift his shoulders and pinch his shoulder blades together. ..his muscle control is much improved
> she put on his ankle brace and had Dad walk around the room with his hemi-walker. His balance is appreciably better since the first time I saw him use it! Her goal was to get Dad to focus on looking where he was going rather than at his feet.
> sitting and standing to continue strengthening his leg muscles
> lunges with each leg while holding on to the parallel bars
> side steps holding onto the bars and focusing on keeping his feet straight
> bending his legs and pulling each of his knees up and down and then lifting each leg while holding it straight
> marching in place
> and, finally, standing on a spongy surface, not holding on, and using his leg and buttocks muscles to balance
So, physical therapy wears Dad out! He watches the big clock in the room and points to it when his hour is up!!! From therapy we went back to the house for lunch and a nap!!! However, he was pretty grumpy when Mom went back to the bedroom and told him it was time for me to take him to acupuncture! Apparently we were making too much noise talking and doing dishes, so he never got to sleep! Oops!!!
So, off we went to acupuncture for Dad's 2:30 appointment. When the acupuncturist came out to get him, he didn't smile at all. She teased with Dad and told him not to be so grumpy! She took him on back and the treatment lasted an hour. When she brought Dad out, he was all smiles!!! Not only did he have a good nap during the treatment, but I do believe that the treatment enhances his mood! On the way home, I reached over, patted Dad on the arm and said, "I love you Dad!" He laughed out loud like, "Yeah right!" The mood inside the suburban was much lighter on the way home than it was on the way there!!! Once we were home, I talked to Dad about acupuncture and how his attitude will help the success of the treatments. I pointed out to him that it has improved his facial control...that he didn't drool at all and that his smile is straight and whole! I think he really listened to me. Hopefully he will be more positive the next time he goes.
While we were gone during the morning, Mom prepped lunch and, in the afternoon, she did some laundry. She seemed so much less stressed with having someone there to do the driving for Dad. Jean is going Wednesday and do pretty much what I did, except I think Dad has speech and physical therapies and no acupuncture. I have a hard time keeping up with his appointments if I don't have Mom's calendar right in front of me! She sure does a good job of keeping them written down! Thank goodness, because there's no consistency so far!
Now for the best part! I kissed Dad and Mom and headed out the door for home. Mom hollered "Bye" to me as I was going out the door and DAD CALLED OUT AND ALSO SAID BYE!!! I quickly turned around and went to him and siad, "Did you just tell me bye?" Mom said, "He sure did!" I was so elated and told Dad so! Then I said, "Okay now tell me that you love me!" And, Dad siad, "Ah, M, Ooo!" THANK YOU DEAR GOD!!! Just to hear him making sounds and attempting to talk is so unbelievably fantastic!!!
Mom told me this evening that she has already packed Dad's suitcase for Colorado and she'll work on hers tomorrow. It's going to be tough on her to get here by 8:30 on Thursday, but I'll bet she makes it!
Ollie is taking his laptop on our trip, so I'll try to blog while we're in Colorado. If not, I promise to catch up as soon as we get home! Lord please grant us safe and uneventful travels!!! Amen!
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