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.
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.
I completely adore every week of his progress, but this week was like amazinggg!!! When I turned to look at him he was staring right at me. He was like "Hey beautiful". I was totally taken off guard. I told him not to do that and warn me the next time he's checking me out. Now he continues to do it to scare me then he laughs. The day before he was only seeing colors and the next day he can see me. I can't prepare myself to keep up with him lmao.
ReplyDeleteFor the record he totally did not understand Slumdog Millionaire. We were only like 10 minutes late and that threw us off. I secretly ended up liking it once I finally caught on. Just another movie he thinks is weird that I liked.
Evelyn you are like the paparatzi catching us getting our nap on. I'm glad my crack wasn't showing!
Destiny you are funny... He did say, "I did not like that movie, you don't want to see it sister...you really don't."
ReplyDeleteI told yall I was going to snap pictures of yall. I told yall that when he was in ICU.
Today we need to take him downstairs so he can see us do the dance for Easter Service... Now, that would totally freak you out when he tells you he can see you dancing.
Yesterday, we were watching the news and he was asking me if the some words was on the screen...He was squinting and trying to read. He was trying to read the tiny typeset. We started laughing he began to describe everything that was going on in that one news segment. So be prepared from now on for more shockers from him... They are coming!
God is Good!!!
ReplyDelete