Wonderful Wednesday

Wow, what a Wednesday! Roger had a great day of OT, PT and group therapy. And we got some unexpected news.

First, OT was great. He did a lot of balloon and ball bouncing exercises that worked his balance a lot at the same time. He did great and was able to recover well when he got off balance which is more work. And just like the last time he was in in-patient therapy he pushed himself harder than the therapists required. After a short break, we went to group therapy and it was awesome. A therapist who plays the guitar and harp leads music therapy once or twice a week. She explains what music therapy can do and how it helps healing whether you are a patient or not. She explained how singing exercises the lungs and helps keep fluid from building up in the lungs and singing works both sides of your brain at the same time which is rarely done with any other activity. So she passed around some Easter eggs half filled with beans for us all to use as shakers. She sang the Tom T. Hall song, "I Love" then asked each participant to state something they loved and she wrote them all down and sang our version of the song. It was great. An older gentleman in the group who was a patient said he loved his wife and his life. He told us during introductions that he was married for 55 years and had one great-great-great grandchild. And when she sang that part of the song I began to tear up but then I looked over at him and he was crying. I lost it. The tears wouldn't stop. Everyone in there were cancer patients and has been through so much. They were all uplifting and encouraging. It was truly unbelievable. Roger and I were both so glad we were there to meet them all and experience it. We will be making it to all the group therapy sessions. She played one piece on the harp which was beautiful then a bunch of other songs we requested from a long list. We all sang and shook our shakers. It was great.

We had a delicious lunch and rested until Roger's afternoon PT session. Before the physical therapist came to get Roger, a speech pathologist showed up to evaluate him. Of course she decided he didn't need any speech therapy which doesn't just include therapy on speech, but memory, reasoning, cognition, etc. We had a great session of PT with Myleen. She worked Roger hard, but he tried to work harder. She really knows her stuff. Roger likes working with her a lot as he knows she is going to get the muscles that aren't working firing and he's going to see good results with her. Dr. Shin one of the rehabilitation doctors came to see Roger first thing in the morning for rounds. He always asks if we have any questions to which I turn to the questions in my notepad and go down the list from the previous day. He and Roger discussed why his right leg has spasms stating Roger needs to stretch a lot more as the muscles are tight and are over exaggerating. He came back in the afternoon to let us know they are planning to discharge Roger next Tuesday, April 5th which is great! We weren't expecting that! Roger has follow-up appointments on Wednesday, April 6th with his neurosurgeon so we will stay the night here in the Rotary House where I'm staying and go home after our appointments the next day. We asked him a bunch of questions about returning home, out-patient therapy and other needs once we return home.

The other crazy thing about Roger being discharged on April 5th is that happens to be our eighth wedding anniversary. The reason I think it is crazy is we have not missed an anniversary yet. Through deployment separation, first brain surgery hospitalization and military disability/retirement processes we have not missed celebrating an anniversary together. On April 5, 2006 we had delicious Italian take out at home by candle light as Roger came home just the day before from living in National Rehabilitation Hospital for 3 weeks after his one week stay in Bethesda Naval Hospital from his first brain surgery. Praise God! I had begun to think about what we could do next Tuesday for our anniversary in the hospital. From trying to have a semi-private dinner together in the hospital to some way to get out of the hospital for a couple hours, I was starting to work it out, but now I don't have to. This is truly amazing.

We went for a roll in a wheel chair around the inside and front of the hospital so Roger could get out of his room a little. He really enjoyed the fresh air and the sun. Roger also got his own ankle-foot orthosis right before dinner arrived. So it turned out to be a wonderful Wednesday. ~ Holly