Things are pretty quiet in the rehab unit over the weekend. Saturday was supposed to be a day off, but PT scheduled 1/2 hour of walking anyway, which Taylor was plenty happy about. Balance gets better every day and walking with the walker will soon be a thing of the past. It would still be considered “mod assist” (where someone else provides 50% of the effort / Taylor does 50%) but he’s currently “min assist” for the walker (25% assist / 75% Taylor) during his walks of 400+ feet.
Nutrition is the priority for rehab right now, and all therapists must work around his dietary schedule, which includes more than 3,000 calories and 111 grams of protein a day! Look out world!
Taylor is visiting an opthomologist tomorrow in Scottsdale, so he’ll be making a road trip. He’s taking wheelchair transportation this time, but he’s ready to transfer from his chair to the passenger seat in a car and will likely travel that way next time. He was referred to this opthomologist by his plastic surgeon. The plastics doc says this doctor works a lot with trauma, so he feels this is the doc for T to visit. It’ll be a bit of a drive to get there (in 111 degree F weather).
Initially, they will be investigating the muscular and nerve damage, rather than testing the vision itself. It was reported while in Flagstaff ICU that he had a detached retina too, but he could see out of that eye until four weeks ago. Hopefully some questions will be answered tomorrow.
Taylor has been very patient with the vision aspect of his recovery. Even standing – in one place – can be challenging for someone who is vision impaired. He walks, get dressed, brushes his teeth, puts his tennis shoes on and ties them (with double bows for security) and yesterday folded his entire load of laundry in neat little stacks, just like he always has. He rests a lot in between tasks, and sometimes requires some cheering to complete a task, just like always! :0)
Challenge*****Try it! Do your morning routine of bathroom, shower, brush teeth, etc., and getting dressed, with no eyes. At all. Or fold your laundry, and keep track of what stacks are what. Even the simplest of tasks become very involved.
