Loving DK

Yesterday, they moved Lauren into a room on the other side of the unit. It is a more spacious room and she has a 14 year old girl for a roommate. Sandra says the family is really nice and sweet. The roommate is so filled with anxiety that she has lost her ability to walk. Literally, paralyzed with fear.

Yesterday was a busy one. I had spent the night so I hung around a little bit to see some of the therapy. First thing they did was fashion a lightweight plastic boot for Lauren's left foot. Its purpose is to keep her foot perpendicular to her leg. Since she doesn't have great muscle control around the ankle, this will prevent her foot from "dropping" and will prevent tendinitis. It is lavender, and goes from toe to calf like a sweat sock. Looks like a thin cast, but can slip on and off. Jessica and I convinced Lauren to go with the hot pink Velcro straps, very fashionable. So, that was PT (Physical Therapy). Which if I was to quickly characterize it, handles the gross motor skills. I think they are going to focus on her leg and getting her walking again.

Her next activity was OT (Occupational Therapy) which again, if I was to quickly characterize it, it would be fine motor skills. They had her work on transferring from her wheelchair onto an big, low table with a mat on it, about the size of a double bed. The therapist moved her arms to see how loose she was and had her do some exercises in front of a mirror. Mostly focused on her left arm. While she can use her left arm, it was clear that it is weaker and her motor control was not as fine.

Dr. Kim (code name DK), the rehabilitation medicine doctor stopped by. He is in his late 50's, but Lauren is quite taken by him. Amazing, I have never seen that look on my daughter's face. She is quite smitten, I would even say gaga. Funny thing is, he is nothing to write home about. It has us all baffled.

Other exercises included laying down and swinging her arm up to hit a ball. At first she was floppy with it, by the end controlled. They also made her reach out and grab a tennis ball that they moved high, low, left, right, transfer it to her right hand and hand it back. The last exercise involved opening a little Tupperware container which contained a stiffer Silly Putty and massaging it. They would roll it into a hot dog and have Lauren pinch it along its length with thumb and forefinger, then thumb and middle finger, thumb and ring finger and thumb and pinkie. Lastly, the therapist put 10 beads into the putty, Lauren could use both hands to find the beads, but then she would have to take it out of the putty with her left hand and put it into the Tupperware container with her left hand.

That was the morning, in the afternoon she had more PT and OT and lastly and hour with the Psychologist. By the end of the day, they had her going to the bathroom with a walker. Granted, she had spotters on both sides, but in my mind, that is amazing progress for the first day.