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Tuesday Update: 10/18/05

Blessing for the day:
Matt has been communicating a lot with the letter board! It has been so great! I can’t even tell you how wonderful it is for us both to be able to really communicate. I don’t have to interpret everything or guess at what he needs. This morning when I told him that we may have to stay here another week or two before going to Younker he spelled out ‘Can u talk to them about speeding things up’. I was impressed with that long of a sentence. I told him he just needs to work on his therapies and keep improving and getting stronger and we’ll get there. I think their goal at Younker is to get him to the point where he can go home and be fairly independent and if he were to have any kind o plateau there, they’d have to send him back to a place like this for a few weeks…and we don’t want that either. So, if that means we have to stay here a little longer than expected, we’ll do it. Whatever gives him the best chances for getting back home, and getting there with as much strength and normalcy as possible.

The nurses have been better last night and today…I think they all got a talking to from their director after yesterday. When Mom and I got here this morning he was all ready to go: shaved, dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, and in the chair! I couldn’t believe it! I usually come in and have to do all that myself. It was wonderful to have it done. He just wanted some cologne and for me to wash his hair, so we did that and he was ready! I hope they keep up that work and take extra good care of our Matty Matt.

He did great in his therapies again today…as usual. Today he walked (with the walker) across the room and turned around and went back! This was the first time he turned around with the walker, normally they have to sit him down and start over…so that was an accomplishment. He is really starting to get the hang of the footsteps, though he still wants to go faster than he really should right now. He’s still learning to pace himself.

In speech this morning he worked on saying ‘love you’ again. He said it very clearly a few times and the therapist is encouraging him to say it to all his family, so they can all hear it. He said it to me earlier this afternoon, and that was pretty darn nice, I have to admit. He has been working on swallowing with popsicles and suckers and has really liked that. On Saturday he got a taste of Mountain Dew and loved that. I told him to keep up the good work and it won’t be too long before he can have more. He said he slept better last night, and I hope that he will sleep better again tonight.

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