Our first therapy evaluations went pretty well. Matt’s speech therapist was ill yesterday, so we didn’t get to see her, but we met with the OT and PT to talk about things and came up with a game plan with them.
First we sat with the OT and went over the notes from Omaha as well as what things have been like for Matt at home. We discussed the kinds of things he worked on with his OT at QLI, as well as some of the projects we’ve got planned for him at home. She thought the things we had planned for him to do, as well as some of the home exercises she had given him before, would be great for him. She was glad to hear that he’s able to perform all of his daily routine tasks independently, and that we are trying out different things in the kitchen as well. He wasn’t really sure what else he wanted to work on with her in structured therapy, and she couldn’t really see that he would benefit much more from anything she could do with him there right now either. So, we all agreed to hold off formal OT sessions for now. She said we could always start up again down the road if he sees something specific he wants to work on, and when the tremor gets a little more manageable, but for now she is comfortable with him working on things at home. Matt was pretty happy about that. He is much more interested in working on things at home…normal things that he would have done before.
As far as PT goes…we talked with her also about what Matt really wants to focus on. #1 walking. #2 strengthening. So, he did some walking with her and the walker as well as the quad cane so she could gage where he was at. She was very pleased with his walk. She thought he walked a little faster and also seemed to have better foot placement. We talked about things around the house as well, and she was tickled to hear how much easier things were for him than before. (Just so you all know…Matt made a comment to me the other day about how he comes home from Omaha and now he has to do EVERYTHING!?! So you know that he’s doing a LOT more than he could do before.) Anyway, we talked through things with Amy, the PT, and decided Matt will work with her 3 times a week for now. She wants to focus hard on things for a few months, then re-evaluate and see what other things we might want to try. So, that’s the plan there. At this point, I am assuming Matt will probably go to therapy 3 times a week for both PT and speech. They are still working out the scheduling specifics…but hopefully we’ll have that all straightened out in the next week or so.
We came home yesterday and we were both feeling pretty good. Matt actually said he thinks life is pretty good right now. We’re both happy with the new car, the way things are shaping up with his therapy, and just LIFE around our house. I think we’ve just hit another milestone in the journey…where we start transitioning between fulltime rehab and LIFE with therapy. Matt is so excited to get back to doing more normal things…working on cars, messing around in the garage, projects around the house…and eventually some sort of work. It is a good feeling for us both to have things be less structured…less dictated by someone else. It feels good to have some control, some sort of say in how and when we want to do things.
First we sat with the OT and went over the notes from Omaha as well as what things have been like for Matt at home. We discussed the kinds of things he worked on with his OT at QLI, as well as some of the projects we’ve got planned for him at home. She thought the things we had planned for him to do, as well as some of the home exercises she had given him before, would be great for him. She was glad to hear that he’s able to perform all of his daily routine tasks independently, and that we are trying out different things in the kitchen as well. He wasn’t really sure what else he wanted to work on with her in structured therapy, and she couldn’t really see that he would benefit much more from anything she could do with him there right now either. So, we all agreed to hold off formal OT sessions for now. She said we could always start up again down the road if he sees something specific he wants to work on, and when the tremor gets a little more manageable, but for now she is comfortable with him working on things at home. Matt was pretty happy about that. He is much more interested in working on things at home…normal things that he would have done before.
As far as PT goes…we talked with her also about what Matt really wants to focus on. #1 walking. #2 strengthening. So, he did some walking with her and the walker as well as the quad cane so she could gage where he was at. She was very pleased with his walk. She thought he walked a little faster and also seemed to have better foot placement. We talked about things around the house as well, and she was tickled to hear how much easier things were for him than before. (Just so you all know…Matt made a comment to me the other day about how he comes home from Omaha and now he has to do EVERYTHING!?! So you know that he’s doing a LOT more than he could do before.) Anyway, we talked through things with Amy, the PT, and decided Matt will work with her 3 times a week for now. She wants to focus hard on things for a few months, then re-evaluate and see what other things we might want to try. So, that’s the plan there. At this point, I am assuming Matt will probably go to therapy 3 times a week for both PT and speech. They are still working out the scheduling specifics…but hopefully we’ll have that all straightened out in the next week or so.
We came home yesterday and we were both feeling pretty good. Matt actually said he thinks life is pretty good right now. We’re both happy with the new car, the way things are shaping up with his therapy, and just LIFE around our house. I think we’ve just hit another milestone in the journey…where we start transitioning between fulltime rehab and LIFE with therapy. Matt is so excited to get back to doing more normal things…working on cars, messing around in the garage, projects around the house…and eventually some sort of work. It is a good feeling for us both to have things be less structured…less dictated by someone else. It feels good to have some control, some sort of say in how and when we want to do things.
Comments