See Saw (a post by Nancy)

From Mom:

This has been a week of up, down and up again!  Steve usually gets to sit in the sling chair twice a week…..a chair with adjustable foot for lowering legs and head for sitting up at increased angles.  Well it’s also on wheels and Tuesday Steve took a trip!  He was up for getting out of those four walls and took two laps around the floor with his entourage of therapists. Diksha, our granddaughter, was there and she and I had fun popping around the corner in front of him as he came down the hall.  This is a long way from when the first time in the chair for a much shorter time made him dizzy.

Then the dip happened the very next night when he was turned in the bed to better position him.  His blood pressure shot up and his heart rate dropped down pretty far.  This brought many to the room, including the night doctor.  After a blood draw and an xray, they had to wait until morning to be sure of the cause.  Another episode happened and then the rest of the night was calm.  In the morning, it was determined that he had taken on too much fluid and that was the cause.  No pneumonia, thankfully.  Becky and I spent the night, she arriving from the condo at midnight.  We just wanted to be near to reassure Steve.

After a day of rest and no weaning, today he surprised his therapists and me with sitting on the side of the bed, supported front and back, but upright on his own and holding his own head up.  It was so great to see a normal pose again!  He did all the head rotation they asked of him and side stretches they performed.  And then to top off the day, he spontaneously made some vocal sounds without the special vent valve….his low voice but not clear what he was saying…..yet!  But he did it several times, which means air was available to travel over his vocal cords in order to make sounds.

It was wonderful to have both Tim’s family and Becky’s family in for part of the week.  What great reinforcements they are!  Kids all made Father’s Day cards and presented him with balloons and flowers.  Alex, Josh and Diksha swept through the condo doing so many things I couldn’t have gotten to or didn’t know how to do (which cords go with this whatchamacallit anyway?)  Connie helped me get the first coat painted in the basement (scene of the burst pipe last month) and Rick, Low, Darlene and Bob, and the train guys visited this week.  We are so blessed by you all!

Nancy