Just a quick lunchtime update. A lot has happened since I last posted.
Roy continues to make incremental progress, small steps. He uses a lot more words now, but the apraxia causes the wrong ones to come out or puts them in the wrong order, making communication difficult. Communication is our number one priority right now!
Roy's son & his family visited over the 4th. I took Aunt Janet (AJ) over to the rehab center to meet them there and we all watched the parade. Good fun and the grandkids kept everyone entertained.
Roy's brother (my dad) came up from Florida the following week and we rented a wheelchair van and took him for his first jaunt away from the nursing home. We went to a local park, watched some kids swimming and fishing, and a dog splashing around. He drank in the fresh air and trees and open sky. It was a good ride. We stopped at a local Italian deli for some ice cream and gelato. A short but refreshing outing back to the world.
He had a brace fitted for his bad leg, so he can do more walking therapies. We've seen him start to use that leg and are encouraged that it will eventually be able to support enough weight so that we can take him on some outings that don't require renting the special van.
Jan and daughters and local friends have been frequent visitors, keeping his spirits up and taking him for walks and keeping him up-to-date on everything. His sisters-in-law came to visit last weekend and made sure he was fed well and often!
He has read this board many times and we are working on ways to enable him to communicate. Therapy is a long road. Being a family of techno-geeks and engineers, we are hoping technology and some ingenuity, insight, and inspiration will help us find or build the right tools to assist him. We've made a tentative start with an on-screen, mouse-driven keyboard, but we're still a long way from composing sentences.
This is also where you can help. In your vast experience, as tinkerers, nerds, and as caregivers yourselves, if you have seen any assistive technology, or heard of a program that works, or know how to make a home more accessible, or know how to retrofit a GMC Trailblazer that can make it handicap friendly-- email me or post it here. No idea is too small. Anything at all is welcome.
All for now,
Brad
