May 2005
May was a very good month overall. There has been observable improvement, although the progress is painstakingly slow, it seems to be consistently forward and without setbacks. Chad seems to respond when you speak directly to him by turning his head and eyes toward the voice. He smiles and laughs a lot, sometimes very appropriately. There are certain sounds that consistently stimulate a chuckle and/or a change in facial expression.
Physical therapy throughout May was steady at twice a week. Chad’s awesome therapist, Michelle, has had a very helpful intern assistant, Eric, working with her. Their teamwork has led to noted improvements, in fact, on May 17, Michelle wrote “Chad sat edge of bed, table in front, holding on midline for five minutes without physical assist!” We are anxiously waiting for the delivery of the standing frame in order to add additional physical therapy to Chad’s weekly regimen. Delivery should be any day now.
As the weather improved late in the month, Chad was able to more-frequently enjoy the backyard, warm sun and fresh air. Dr. Howe, a chiropractor from the Alternative Healing Arts Center, has been coming by every week this month, sometimes twice weekly, to see Chad. He has spent his time realigning Chad’s neck to improve blood flow and nerve connections.
Late in May Chad was transported, via ambulance to Kaiser for a doctor’s consultation on effective treatment of wrist and ankle contractures. As of the end of the month we still do not have a ‘way forward’ with respect to this issue. We are doing everything possible at home to self-treat the contractures through range-of-motion exercises and the use of various soft splints and wearing sneakers daily for a few hours to try to relieve foot drop.
Over the past several months it has become a little easier to have Chad fit into household activities as much as possible. Since his new digs are spacious, there is ample room to gather. If we are not in that room, we bring him to the recliner in the living room or, using his wheelchair, bring him to the backyard.
Studying advancements in medicine and science that might help Chad continues to be a priority. We spent some time this month looking into hyperbaric oxygen therapy and, in fact, visited one local center. There facility would not accommodate access to the chamber for anyone completely immobile and secondarily, we would have to be able to transport Chad to the facility. We will continue to both investigate this form of therapy as it has shown promising results under similar circumstances and look into additional fundraising opportunities so we may acquire a wheelchair-accessible van conversion that will very soon be a necessity in order to transport Chad.
As always, an appreciative ‘thank you’ goes out to everyone who continues to follow his progress and inquire about Chad. We will try to keep updates more current.