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Friday, April 29, 2011

Rehab: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Yesterday marked the end of five weeks of rehab. Geez, doesn't seem that long. Next week is Week #6 and time for another evaluation, this one for the insurance company and you'd think it would be no-brainer to approve another six weeks for Bob, but....

I do not trust insurance companies. Especially since it was the insurance company that kicked him out of Acute Inpatient Rehab after only four weeks and the same insurance company who at first didn't want to send him to Rehab at all, their excuse being that "Robert had no quality of life to return to" because he was disabled before the stroke. We had to go all the way up to the medical director at the insurance company to get him approved for Rehab. So, it will be another week on pins and needles waiting for a decision. The meeting with the case manager is on Wednesday, so we'll find out then.

The good news is that Bob is doing very well in Physical Therapy. He has been taking bigger and faster steps on the parallel bars and yesterday was able to stand and let go of the bars completely. (Look, Mom, no hands!)

The bad news is that I'm not seeing much progress in Occupational Therapy and I'm not so sure about Speech/Swallow either. Part of the problem with OT is that Bob doesn't enjoy it, at all. The Occupational Therapist started mirror box therapy, but Bob just isn't into it. When she asked him what was wrong, he said, "It's stupid."

OK, so "it's stupid" is actually a good, clear, meaningful sentence. So, maybe he is progressing in Speech a bit....

The ugly part? Yesterday we spent about 25 minutes of a 45 minute therapy session in the bathroom. aaaaaaaaargh..... I'm afraid they wont want to continue therapy if he spends all of his time in the can...

On a lighter note, this morning Ripley spied a chicken in our backyard. Click on the photo below and zoom in between Ripley's ears! Now we live in the city, so where did this chicken come from???
Is this some kind of omen?

Let's hope it's not The Chicken of Doom.....

Ripley Spies a Chicken

3 comments:

Nikki said...

Haha, a chicken? Funny! Hope everything goes well at the evaluation!

Helen M said...

LaCrosse WI is trying to pass a chicken ordinance saying people can have up to five hens (no cocks) as yard pets. Maybe it's a pet. Leave it to you to inject some humor into your blog. I don't know how you do it. You make your journey understandable and unenviable, yet write in such a way as to not turn away the reader with piles of depression. Best of luck with further approval from the insurance company. Keep up the good work, Bob.

Jenn said...

Ah....NOW I see it! Lol!