Wednesday
First, to answer a request: Linda is still on the yellow play dough. We don't get to it every day, but since you asked, I do have a play dough story for you. Last Thursday, when I was gone, one of the nurses gave Linda her putty in bed to work with in the evening. It turns out that the putty can get pretty soft when you work it with your hands. After about 15 minutes, Linda rang the call light for the nurse. When the nurse arrived, Linda had her hands spread across her middle. She was hiding her putty underneath which had fallen and was slowly seeping into her shirt.
They tried a few things to clean her up, including ice to harden the putty. The final solution was alcohol wipes, which did a pretty good job after about 20 minutes of good labor. We now have can of yellow putty with a pink tinge.
In other news, Linda did the "plank" exercise again. Today she held it for about 15 seconds (twice), so a bit longer than yesterday. We also did some shoulder stretching and some electrical therapy on both forearms.
He big triumph of the day came in PT. She had indicated this morning that she would like to do the bike again for her afternoon session. What made it different this time was the bike. The first first bike was something like a tractor seat with pedals out to the front, so it was pretty easy to sit in. We just put a belt around her to keep her secure. Today, she rode a standard stationary air-bike. It was a bit tricky getting her up on the saddle, but that was about the hardest part of getting started. We tied her shoes onto the pedals so she wouldn't slip off and set the clock for 5 minutes.
At first, I had my hand on her back for balance and she used only the pedals (there are also arm grips on the bike which alternate with the pedals). After a few minutes, she added the arm motion as well. After her time was up, Linda indicated that she wanted to keep going, so we set another 5 minutes. Since she was keeping her balance on her own, I removed my hand, and she ran the bike completely on her own for the entire time. Even the head doctor came down to the gym to complement her on it.
Ellie came to visit today. She was cute and adorable as always. We decided to take Linda from the meal group where she usually eats, and she went to the cafeteria with us for lunch. It was pretty fun.
First, to answer a request: Linda is still on the yellow play dough. We don't get to it every day, but since you asked, I do have a play dough story for you. Last Thursday, when I was gone, one of the nurses gave Linda her putty in bed to work with in the evening. It turns out that the putty can get pretty soft when you work it with your hands. After about 15 minutes, Linda rang the call light for the nurse. When the nurse arrived, Linda had her hands spread across her middle. She was hiding her putty underneath which had fallen and was slowly seeping into her shirt.
They tried a few things to clean her up, including ice to harden the putty. The final solution was alcohol wipes, which did a pretty good job after about 20 minutes of good labor. We now have can of yellow putty with a pink tinge.
In other news, Linda did the "plank" exercise again. Today she held it for about 15 seconds (twice), so a bit longer than yesterday. We also did some shoulder stretching and some electrical therapy on both forearms.
He big triumph of the day came in PT. She had indicated this morning that she would like to do the bike again for her afternoon session. What made it different this time was the bike. The first first bike was something like a tractor seat with pedals out to the front, so it was pretty easy to sit in. We just put a belt around her to keep her secure. Today, she rode a standard stationary air-bike. It was a bit tricky getting her up on the saddle, but that was about the hardest part of getting started. We tied her shoes onto the pedals so she wouldn't slip off and set the clock for 5 minutes.
At first, I had my hand on her back for balance and she used only the pedals (there are also arm grips on the bike which alternate with the pedals). After a few minutes, she added the arm motion as well. After her time was up, Linda indicated that she wanted to keep going, so we set another 5 minutes. Since she was keeping her balance on her own, I removed my hand, and she ran the bike completely on her own for the entire time. Even the head doctor came down to the gym to complement her on it.
Ellie came to visit today. She was cute and adorable as always. We decided to take Linda from the meal group where she usually eats, and she went to the cafeteria with us for lunch. It was pretty fun.
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