Paul's Update - 10/14/07

Dear Friends:

The last few days Paul has done more walking with his cane. It is amazing how quickly he seems to be improving with this new activity. Dad said that the Physical Therapist told him to encourage Paul to walk ALL the time. It is the only way he will learn how to do it ... and he seems to be learning nicely. Friday night we went out to Logans for dinner. Paul used his walker since the walkway to the restaurant is a steep grade. Amazingly Paul seems to have a better walking stride which I believe is due to the balance he is getting from walking with his cane.

Saturday morning after Gradis arrived she helped Dad get Paul dressed and out to the living room for breakfast. Paul spent the morning watching TV. We headed out to lunch around 12:15pm. Up to now Paul has only walked in the house. He is doing really well. He tends to try to walk with the right leg a little stiff and that causes him to lose his balance from time to time. He uses the cane but sometimes he tries to take steps without the use of the cane. It may be in his hands but not really getting use. Dad decided to try to have Paul walk outside when we left to go to the Mexican Restaurant. This is a very different kind of walking since he has to manage the difference in the terrain. Our sidewalk has a down-grade to the driveway so he had to manage without going too fast. Dad assisted him some but has been trying to allow Paul to manage his balance by himself. He did pretty good getting to the van. Once we got to Warrenton he had to walk from the van to the restaurant. Again the sidewalk was slanted on an angle a bit and Paul had to manage the slant. He struggled a bit and lost his balance a few times but he walked all the way. He takes baby steps which makes it take a long time to get anywhere but we are patient and willing to take our time. After lunch we headed back home and Paul walked back into the house. We spent the evening at home. Paul was tired early and went to bed at 10:30pm. I think all the walking is wearing him out.

Sunday morning we went to breakfast. He used the cane again. He was walking a bit better than he did on Saturday. After breakfast we came home and waited for Max to arrive for church. I took Max with me when I went to get Joanne at the nursing home. Dad, Paul & Gradis walked to church. Paul used the walker for that trip. Again I think he walks better with the walker now than he did before he started with the cane. The afternoon was spent watching movies and the football game. Paul walked with the cane each time he went to the bathroom. He even took several steps WITHOUT the use of the cane. He was still holding it in his hand but he didn’t put it down on the floor prior to taking these steps. Another interesting this is ... he is trying to use the cane in his RIGHT hand (this is the weaker hand). He occasionally switches hands but really seems to like trying to use the right hand. Gradis gets so excited when Paul does new things ... you would think she was part of the family!! We spent a part of the evening preparing for Monday’s trip to Richmond. We are going to participate in a study on Brain Injured Patients and their families. This will be an opportunity for us to share our story and possibly learn about other people who have been down the path we are currently on. We have quite a story to tell. This program will consist of five two hour sessions over the next ten weeks with the Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital staff. We are looking forward to any insights we can get from this program! Please keep us in prayer as we work with this program!

Have a great day! Lynne & Carl