More Progress

There is so much great news this week, I'm just so excited about it all.  It definitely makes it easier to forget about the trying times, when there are more great things to write about.

The morning started with a real shower (this is his second, but I missed the first one) with three lovely ladies in attendance.  I would love to have recorded this event, because what guy would not want to brag that he took a shower with two beautiful women and also be believed, and that the third participant was there to observe!  Oh Kyle, if you only knew.

There were a lot of other additional new happenings, over the course of this week.

Kyle finally graduated to all real food, which means he can join me in the cafeteria downstairs, or I can bring him back his favorite, Chick-fil-a.....or better yet, Chipotle!  Both an easy walk from Shepard.  Oh the little things.

He finally had his "peg" removed from his stomach.  This was used to supply all his numerous meds.   Kyle had been successfully taking all but one by mouth, which was his elephant sized fish oil. Success with the fish oil meant finally removing the peg.

And this was huge! Melanie decided Kyle was ready for a wheelchair that would provide him with his own mobility! Motorized by his own feet!

Of course, it didn't take him long before he discovered it was too slow traveling face forward.  He quickly turned backwards and off he went, only to be scolded once by me and later by Melanie.  He now has conditions to use it properly or it will be taken away.

Here he is navigating his way back to his room.  This new found independence is just what he needed.

Everybody just loves him here <3











And last but certainly not least, the best news of the week.......

Jasmine continues working with Kyle's right arm with electro stimulation in conjunction with teaching him how to write well again.  He is making slow but steady progress with that arm, but Jasmine feels the left arm now needs some serious attention.  The fear is that it will fuse at the elbow in that semi-bent position.  The problem has been that the serious pain it gives Kyle has hindered any real therapy with it.

Because of this severe pain, Kyle's doctor decided to add a second drug for his damaged nerves, cymbalta.  With this addition, we noticed a definite decline in the amount of painful outbursts from Kyle,  This allowed Jasmine to start therapy on Kyle's left arm.

Before that began however, I noticed that with Kyle's increased range of motion with his right arm, he had begun reaching over to his left and positioning it himself to provide pain relief.

In addition, I noticed that anytime he watched TV, he would pick up his lifeless hand and move his fingers around, starting his own sort of therapy.



Jasmine then began showing Kyle how he could use his right arm to help move and stretch his left.  This left arm has so much extra bone growth due to the brain injury that it is huge and hard.

This is not the end of my "best news", but I will have to finish tomorrow.  I am so tired and it is late, I must go to sleep now.