Who's the Boss

We heard more positive news from the OT today, she suggested working on stamina and ensuring that Daddy sat up in the chair for at least half the day. So, there will be a lot more upright positioning in his future. She also agreed with previous assessors that he is a good candidate for an aggressive rehabilitation program and put as much in his case file which will be reviewed in conjunction with a formal evaluation scheduled for tomorrow.

We got a few additional phrases today, "how are you" and "you betcha". His nonchalant reactions to our shouts of glee in response to hearing these new words makes me think he's playing some sort of joke on us.

The Thayer girls made good use of our time today and visited two possible rehabilitation centers including Bernsen located at the St. John's facility and the Muscogee Creek Nation Rehabilitation Center in Okmulgee. We got a lot of good information about what the day to day would look like in the coming weeks and what to expect as far as his recovery. We came away feeling very positive about the care available and are now focusing on ensuring we can get him "processed" in a timely manner so that he can get started as soon as possible. While Daddy seemed very eager to ask questions and provide his opinion on the potential facilities, he's still not able to get his point across so will have to trust the girls to make these decisions on his behalf (I told him as much and will take the shrug I got in response as acquiescence).

Bernsen's evaluation will take place in the morning and if all goes well he could be transferred as early as tomorrow afternoon. He's officially off all medications except what he takes to control the blood pressure (which was very good today, average reading was around 118/76). He'll continue to receive nutrition through the PEG tube until he's deemed a "safe swallower", but both facility reps we spoke with today said they're used to working around and with the PEG during rehab. He's been doing really well with the ice chips (he got to have ten of them today!) so we'll continue to build from there.

Thanks again to the many, many visitors we had today. Daddy was a very sleepy but seemingly content when we finally departed this evening. We got that stern but familiar "get out of here" finger motion around 8 PM and were happy to oblige. We'll let him be in charge of something, even if it's just his bed time for now...

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