Friday July 3rd, 2009: Day Program

Will has started the day program. The first day is slow, and A LOT of talking. Will met with his new team members on an individual basis and discussed his goals for day program. He has a brand new case manager, doctor, nurse, PT, OT, ST, and TR specialist. As you can see from one of the pictures below, he was exhausted from all the talking. He got to take a little cat nap on one of the mats. Day program is just like inpatient, in that he has a schedule from 9-4. They build in free time blocks during the day where he can do things on his own, like go to the gym, or stretch, or use the FES bike (there is a picture of him using the bike below). We are settled into the apartments and he continues to be a little more independent each day. Last night, he did his bowel program and showered all on his own. This morning he stretched, dressed, and got out of bed on his own. I am not not expected to be present anymore during therapy, since my training is complete and this is really his time to work hard and advance his skills. Next week we will find out his discharge date. It is likely we will be leaving in 2 weeks. I will return to work full time on August 10th. Time is flying by! Tomorrow is the Peachtree Road Race which is the largest 10k in the US. There will be about 50,000 runners and also wheelchair racers. The race runs right by Shepherd and all the patients will be out cheering everyone on. Shepherd is located in the middle of a LARGE hill, so it will be very motivating to run up that hill and high 5 all the patients. There us a brunch after the race with all the wheelchair athletes, so we are looking forward to attending that. We will also go over to Will's old roommate's home for some dinner. He lives about 2 miles from here. His name is Jeff and he had Guillain Barre syndrome. We will head back to Shepherd in time to catch the fireworks. We will have a great view from the top of the parking deck.