Day 21

Hello there,

Well, here we are three weeks into this ordeal! Barry has made significant progress since arriving at the Braintree Rehab. His days are filled with therapy sessions; today he had 5! By 7:30 p.m., Barry is asking to be put to bed as he is physically exhausted! His appetite has somewhat improved; however he is still having difficulty sleeping for any extended period of time.

During one of his sleepless nights, the nurses brought Barry to a family room where the patients have access to a p.c. One of Barry's morning routines is to read the CNN news web page. Although difficult for him at this time, he managed to pull up the CNN web page to read about Randy Pausch's death and a lecture that Randy Pausch gave prior to his death called the "Last Lecture". For those of you who have visited Barry recently, this hit very near and dear to home and he becomes quite emotional speaking about it. He has made mention of it with every visitor that he has had since reading it. If you would like to read more on this lecture, please click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F87yvlDWzUs&NR=1

Barry has also indicated that when he is more comfortable using the computer, he would like to post an update to his own blog!

On Friday, Day 18, Barry was able to enjoy the light of day during his first visit on the hospital's outdoor patio. Friday evening, we enjoyed a "take out" dinner amongst friends on the patio. He has enjoyed his daily visits outdoors since then. On Sunday, Marissa, Steve, Haley, Cody, and I brought a home cooked dinner to him and ate together, once again, as a family in the hospital's cafe. Cody was thrilled to spend some time with his Grampie!

I met with his case manager this morning. His intraveinous (sp?) antibiotic ends on August 1st so the pic-line will be removed at that point and some of the many medications that he is on will end this week as well. His physical therapy progress has been slow and steady and we are told that this will be a slow process. During his physical therapy sessions, he gets very winded and his blood pressure has to be consistently monitored. If it rises, they have to stop the therapy until it comes down. His case manager, as well as his nurses, consider him to be unstable on his feet; however, when speaking with Barry he feels that he is quite stable. His bed and his wheel chair are alarmed for this reason!!! We are ecstatic that he has come this far considering that we were originally told that he would have to go to rehab to learn how to walk again and he was able to walk prior to arriving at the Rehab!!

He has also made great progress with his occupational, speech, and ALS (Adult Life Skills) therapy. His neuropsychologist stated that Barry's initial evaluation indicated that he had an inoxic brain injury. This is caused by lack of blood and oxygen to the brain. This has had an impact on Barry's reasoning, short-term memory, and eye/hand coordination. Daily, we see significant improvements in all three areas and he is now able to differentiate his "dreams" during sedation from reality; another topic that he readily shares with his visitors!!

His case manager indicated that they were aiming for him to come home as early as this weekend; however he will require 24/7 supervision. Her primary concern is his stability, stamina, and blood pressure. After his discharge from Braintree Rehab, Barry will still require outpatient occupational and physical therapy. She will meet again with his therapists tomorrow to re-evaluate Barry's condition, determine his date of discharge, and his outpatient treatment.

As Barry would say, "It's All Good!" If you have an opportunity, please stop in and say Hello. He is at the Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital on Pond Street in Braintree. Visiting hours are Mon - Fri, 12:00 -1:00 p.m. and 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. and Sat - Sun, 12:00 - 8:00 p.m. Until tomorrow........

Lisa