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Thursday, August 9, 2012

A Heartbreaking PT Session

Yesterday, Bob had his first actual physical therapy session at the new Rehab facility. I tell you, it nearly broke my heart.

Last year, right before he was discharged from that Outpatient Rehab, Bob could walk ten times on those parallel bars.

Yesterday, he took four wobbly steps, both knees buckled and he nearly fell over.

Last year, before he was discharged, he was finally able to stand up from a sitting position.

Yesterday, it took three therapists to hoist him from the wheelchair.

So much that PT at the last Rehab Center who told me it "would be good for Bob to take a break from therapy".

Now, Bob can still get up from the wheelchair in our hallway without any help. And he can walk the rail in our hallway at least 15 times. Unfortunately, he leans heavily on the wall when he does this and at Rehab there is no wall by the parallel bars to lean on....

We go back for another session tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

But I tell you, it is hard to watch. And it feels like we're starting all over from scratch.


2 comments:

Rebecca Dutton said...

When I started working as an OT PTs put every client in the parallel bars. I think that gave people a false sense of what a client can do at home. Clients can pull harder with their arms on the bars than they can on a person. Today PTs rarely use the bars so they forced to feel what they are asking a family member to do. Bob isn't starting over. PT has racheted up the demands.

Jenn said...

Keep in mind, too, that Bob's core may be lacking in strength compared to last year. Continue to work on building the core muscles the best you can. It will aid immensely.