Tim has made many accomplishments in the last few weeks. We have been at Brooks for a total of 3 weeks and his discharge date is set for August 12th. The blood pressure issue has improved, he has had very few problems in the last 2 weeks. He has stopped passing out completely, every once in a while he will get light headed or dizzy but has better control over it. His Doctor prescribed a blood pressure pill that he takes twice a day, he will probably continue on it at home until it is regulated. Tim had an ultrasound and an MRI to check his liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. The results came back clear! They did the tests because of his elevated enzyme levels, which they believe were caused from his blood thinner, which they recently switched. The new blood thinner has caused his blood platelet levels to drop, so they may actually take him off the the blood thinner completely, since he is moving a lot now. Which brings me to the one of the most exciting topics....Tim is walking!! And with surprisingly good form for such early stages! :) He started walking with the assistance of a physical therapist and then moved to walking with a walker and now is able to walk completely by himself, although when he is not with a therapist, he is supposed to use his walker. During therapy, he walks on a treadmill to work on his form. Tim has a hard time remembering exactly what it was like to walk, so he puts a lot of thought into the mechanics, like how to swing his arms, his posture and how to place his feet. He has already come a long way with it and looks pretty natural, except for the arms. Speaking of his arms, he has complete feeling in both of them, although his hands have a constant tingling feeling, we are hopeful that this will stop with time. Tim participates in about 2 hours of occupational therapy a day. This works on the use of his arms and hands and handling every day tasks, such as dressing himself, brushing his teeth, and feeding himself. Tim has gained a lot of independence, he can do all of the above tasks on his own and even has his bowel and bladder movements under control. He is also walking to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet and completing all tasks that go along with it! :) These are huge steps, as Tim would say, he has taken "leaps and bounds!" There are no baby steps with Tim, he wants to gain full independence asap! Tim is now working on building his strength back, he has some of the basics down and can handle many tasks on his own, but is very weak and becomes extremely fatigue in a short time. Just as an example, last week his therapist had him do some bench presses, he struggled just in doing 10 reps and asked the therapist how many pounds she was making him lift. To his surprise, she told him it was only 1 pound! It was hard for him to believe that only 5 weeks ago, he could lift 225 pounds and now he struggles with only 1 pound, but this is all a part of the injury and very normal. He is now proud to say, he has moved up to a grand total of 5 pounds! Again, another accomplishment!
Things are starting to actually look up for Tim, he can walk, he has gained independence in his daily routine (with little assistance) and is going home this Thursday! He will still continue rehab 3 days a week and still has a long way to go, but has so much to be thankful for. Your prayers are appreciated and are really going a long way!
This is Tim's favorite verse, just thought I'd share.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
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