Prognosis for the future

Rick was pretty busy today with all of his different therapies. He has been using cards a lot and playing matching and memory games. He has been using the WII video game to play a "deer hunter" game. He didn't harvest anything today, but it took him a few tries before he shot one in the woods too. :)   (Sorry Rick, I couldn't resist.)

His therapists have been doing some handwriting and number writing with him and his penmanship is pretty good. He is sequencing phone numbers XXX-XXX-XXXX just like they are written, but obviously filling in with actual telephone numbers. Many of the these have 262 and 414 area codes. Mary is not familiar with any of them, but they could be telephone numbers he has used for work in the past.

He is using an old cell phone without a battery for therapy. For some reason, he always wants to be talking on the phone. He's ordering parts, or talking with friends or even discussing his fantasy team.

Mary met with the staff today and they gave her a tentative time frame of 4-6 weeks. This is the anticipated time that he will spend at Sacred Heart.  At the end of this time frame, he will then be evaluated and the decision will be made as to where his next temporary home will be, or if he will be able to be discharged to his Menomonee Falls home. No one knows for sure what his status will be at that time.  It all depends upon how he responds to therapy over the next month to month and a half.

They expect to do another CT scan on him next week, to see how is brain is healing and responding to stimulus.  He may have to take some medication to help him with his attention span.  He has been responding to instructions and has had to be re-directed fewer times.  He seems to be more focused on his therapy and the job at hand and remembering commands without have to be re-told. 

All in all, it has been a positive week for Rick. There have not been a lot of huge milestones, rather many small ones.  But these small steps add up after awhile and when you step back and look at the whole picture, his progress is moving in a positive direction.  That's all we can hope for right now.