It's Been A Long Time...

It has been about two weeks since my last post... I know, it has been a long time. Of course you all know I could not leave you in suspense much longer... I asked Robert if he wanted to do the blog update and he agreed. However, he is doing his message as a campaign speech for the rehab center. Well, here it goes...

I am Robert Obama and I am running for president of the rehab center. Since I have been a patient here I have noticed a few things that need addressing... I am all about change. Although, we do not have a patients council here I believe it is high time that we start one. So, as a patient here, I am running as the first black president of the rehab center. If elected as your president I will ensure that patients will have quality food from the cafeteria and a choice to eat from the grill or the caff. As your president I will ensure that each patient will be drop free and have a pleasant recovery here. As your president I will make sure that we bring some spirit into this dead place... We need to stop being so serious and have a sense of humor and add some comedy and laughter in this dry place. We need to have socials, meet and greets and become acquainted with each other a little more. I think that will help with our therapy and recovery.
I love our rehab therapists they are great at their jobs. For the last couple of weeks they have helped me work on my memory; assisted me in walking with the harness, on the parallel bars and the local mat; tested me on my reading comprehension; worked with me on dressing myself without assistance; and finally worked with me on my stand pivot transfers from the bed to the chair. All the therapist need is the patients cooperation and willingness to achieve the weekly goals set for them.

As your president I want to make sure that each patient is motivated to do each therapy session because the therapists can not assist you in your recovery if you do not want to recover yourselves.

Here at the rehab center we have excellent nursing care. Ms. Jennifer who not only makes sure you are comfortable and every need is met she takes an interest in your life and your recovery. Ms. Freda who can lift me in 2.5 seconds and make me laugh. She makes sure that I am entertained and no one bothers me. Ms. Freda, the picture is coming soon. Ms. Deborah, who escorts me to the eye doctor and makes sure I laugh and forget about the long wait to be seen. Ms. Claudette, she keeps everything clean and in order. Nothing is out of place with her. These are just a few exemplary ladies who deal with me on a daily basis. They work so well with me and other patients. As your president, I want to make sure that we keep staff on hand like these ladies at all times.

So as I advocate for a change in the policies here at the rehab center, I need your help as well. I need your help to not only elect me as your president but to also to an active role in your therapy. Use me as your example…Every goal that is set, I meet it every week. I have my family who take an active role in my recovery by visiting all the time and far and wide. Even my cousin Connie came from Laurinburg, NC just to see me along with my little cousin from Florida. It feels good to be loved and you all can feel the same way too.
There is one more thing I would like implemented as your president. We need to have a regular church service held here on Sundays for those patients who like to attend a worship service. We need to relish in our religion and feel the presence of our Lord always.
Since we are speaking about change… My mother is my first lady because she is the number one lady in my life. So in absence of my wife (which I do not have at the moment) my mother is gladly taking the place. My sisters are my campaign managers and keep me on task as the presidential candidate of the rehab center. Also, in my cabinet there is a place for my Des Babe… She keeps me loved and supports me in ways that my mom and sisters can not do.
Before I go, I want to leave you with one thing thought… We are a community of patients needing the best rehab this hospital can provide. I am advocating for change, we need a change in policy, a change in patient outlook and a change in ourselves.
I am Robert Obama and I approve this message.

So, there you have it! A lovely speech by my brother…working hard in therapy and keeping his mind open to bigger and better things.

Halfway There

We are halfway there. Robert’s doctors estimated that he would be in rehab for 12 weeks. We have hit the 6th week mark and as usual Robert continues to progress. It seems like with each passing day his spirit grows a little stronger, his will to recover gets a little bit thicker and his determination to surpass the doubts of his doubters is off the charts.

He has learned to control his emotions a little more and being sad is no longer an option. He quickly lets people know, “don’t come in here telling me what I can’t do, don’t down me. You are supposed to be here to encourage me, to assist me in getting through this.”

You know there are always those faithful few who want to be your biggest supporters but yet tear you down instead of building you up. Robert doesn’t want that negative energy around him. He is capable to fight his verbal battles alone now, no longer is he letting me or Donna do it. He lets us along with our Mother to fight the battle with the medical staff.

At any rate, this past week he has had an increase in therapy sessions and has started combating other obstacles in his recovery. On he finally moved his toes. He has been trying to move his toes since he was hospitalized. Now he is working to crack his toes (which he loves and use to do all the time.)

On Tuesday, Robert gave love lessons to his younger cousins. He told them, “wrap it up, and don’t be concerned about picking the right girl right now because these girls right now don’t even know how to be the right girl. Enjoy your youth, when the time comes for you to find your forever; you will know it’s her. Once you find that right one, just hold on to her.” Aside from love lessons, he stretched his legs out real good and worked on pushing himself up in the bed by using the bed rails and no assistance from nurses, techs or family members.

Walking Wednesday, Robert walked on a walker.

He was very excited about that but he said, “I will be more excited to walk by myself.” He stretched some more today, his muscles tighten up a lot so he has to work and stretch his legs and arms to keep his muscles loose. He had group therapy today as well. He was read a paragraph and he had to summarize what he heard and had to answer a couple questions afterwards.

On Thursday he worked on standing up and transferring from his chair to the bed using the stand pivot combo and the squat pivot combo. His friends came and visited and they had a semi freestyle studio session in the atrium. Robert was giving God thanks for his life, and rapping about how well he has recovered he even amazed himself. His friends promised to bring the keyboard and some beats in for them to have a real freestyle session.

Friday he had fun. He worked on puzzles and played basketball. His recreational therapist promised that she would bring the Wii in for him to play that. He worked extensively on remembering all of his therapists’ names. He has gotten better with recognizing them and saying their names with little or no prompting.

Surprise…surprise…Robert’s New York family surprised him with a visit today and he was overjoyed and excited. He let me trim his beard today so he wouldn’t be a wolf for too much longer. He chilled today, not much therapy.
Sunday, Easter Sunday… Robert went to church. The rehab center had service and Robert was escorted to service by the New York crew, our uncle and Dad. He was had visitors all day long. We had a big Sunday dinner that our Aunt Edwina catered. We enjoyed mac & cheese, ham, baked chicken, rotisserie chicken, sweet potatoes, collard greens, homemade corn muffins, potato salad and stuffing. For desert we had apricot rum cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Robert refused to eat the cake because it had rum in it… no drinking for him. He joked saying, if he eats the cake we would be sticking a spoon in his mouth to stop him from swallowing his tongue. “I’m seizure free and I will remain that way,” he said.

All in all Robert had a great week. He enjoyed his visitors, his therapy and reveled in the fact that he is still alive and that accounts for everything. He is a blessing everyday and I can’t stop thanking God for all the blessings and miracles he has bestowed upon my family and my friends.

Stepping Stones

Hello followers of Robert’s progression…

These last two weeks have been rough trying to write and post progress stories on the blog because my laptop broke and Robert has been improving so much that when you are visiting with him he demands all of your attention. Every little thing you do he questions or want you to come sit beside him. He is still keeping everyone on their toes with laughter and his constant appetite. You would think that he would be fat by now because of everything he eats. He is putting on some weight but he had lost so much weight that it’s hard for some to see him getting chubby. His last weigh in he weighed 148 pounds. I will let you all know how many more pounds he has gained since then.

Well, without further adieu, here is Robert’s two week update:

So far Robert spent one week in ICU, one week in the main hospital, and five weeks in rehab. Robert has transformed from a comatose state to a very mobile and continuous evolving state. As mentioned before, while in ICU Rob was only moving his right arm. However, with therapy and healing time Robert can now feed himself, sit at the sink and wash his hands, he is beginning to see colors and shapes, he is remembering details and retaining information.

For the past two weeks in rehab Robert has really progressed. His vision has improved, he is walking more without the use of the harness and he is also becoming more aware of his left side. He is learning how to handle his muscle spasms and to control his emotions. And we have had two weeks fall/drop free. He is coming along very well.

During a meeting with his entire rehab medical team we learned a lot about Robert’s injuries, his impairments and his overall goals with each therapist. He is classified as having TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). The bullet damaged Robert’s frontal and parietal lobe. The frontal lobe is associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving and the parietal lobe is associated with movement, orientation, recognition, and perception of stimuli. He is prone to mood swings, seizures, and muscle spasms. He is taking medication to prevent seizures and headaches and to control his spasms.

We also learned that Robert has spasticity; this is when the muscles tighten or contract because the brain is over firing and sending continuous messages to the muscles to tighten. Through therapy and slight medication he is learning how to handle himself when this occurs. Robert also suffers from spatial awareness. He is not certain of his body’s position in space. His vision is another impairment and during the assessment Robert was only seeing bright lights and limited colors. Now he can describe what you have on, what you are doing, where you are in reference to him. He has been watching TV and even went on a movie date with Destiny on Sunday. They saw Slum Dog Millionaire in the Atrium of the rehab center.

In therapy he is learning how to cope and overcome his impairments. For his spasticity, his therapist has him walking on a harness assisted machine on the track, and rolling on the mat and walking with out the harness. For his short term memory he has been using reverbalization or repetition. At first Robert was not aware of the day and date. Now he can tell you what day it is and estimate around what time it is. He also gets stuck on a word and he has learned to talk around what he doesn’t remember in order to get him to find the word he wants to use. He is also participating in group therapy during lunch that helps him remember things and process his progress.

Because of vision impairment he is learning new ways to find his food on his plate by tapping his utensil on the table until he has located his food. He is learning how to dress himself and clean himself with out assistance and with limited vision. He is also working on tactile cueing and verbal cueing when transferring from one surface to the next.

All in all, Robert is really overcoming many obstacles. He has a positive attitude and his determination to get back to himself and back to laying pipe is keeping him going. He is doing amazingly well with everything that he undergoes.

It is truly remarkable how well God works. He shows me and my family everyday what he can do for his people. I know I can speak for the entire family when I say we are very thankful for all these blessings that God has bestowed on this family. We have stones thrown in our way so we can step on them and rise to the occasion. Every obstacle that we have encountered this past year is nothing more than stepping stones.