Days have been filled with much activity, even on the weekends.Taylor prefers to be out and about wheeling around in the wheelchair, or working in the PT gym during off hours. He enjoys pedaling the bike, or working on standing, walking, balancing, etc. He is the “Healing Garden” behind St. Joe’s many times a day now. There are fountains, flowers, hummingbirds and beautiful landscape with trees and shade. The included photo was taken in one of the favored shady spots. Somehow 108 degrees F just doesn’t seem that bad in the shade. We have to be careful, though, not to be out too long. Taylor’s body sometimes gets confused about heat vs. cold, etc., and has shivered in the heat. Short visits are best, so there are many a day.Taylor’s nurse this evening is a nurse who has not seen him in a few weeks, and she came in while I was assisting him transfer to his wheelchair. She was absolutely shocked at how much he has improved since he was last in her care. He stands on his own, steps on his own, lowers himself into chairs, etc., all on his own. We are always close, but it’s all his muscle work, control and balance.He has the Opthamologist visit on Tuesday that he had to miss last Tuesday for the feeding tube ordeal. Since he has been practicing getting into and out of cars, there is no need to hire a transport van!Taylor has been asking for the laptop, lately. The first time I gave it to him, he fumbled around a bit, head hanging a little low and sort of dozing. I asked if he remembered where all the keys are, and he nodded, still not moving his fingers which were at the ready on the “home keys”. I asked if he could maybe just type his name, to sort of get the feel of the keys with something likely in his muscle memory. He immediately typed: Tayolor James Stark. And extra o in Taylor, but capitalized and spaced perfectly. To be honest, I was quite surprised. I waited for him to type more, and his head was low, posture was not great, and he was likely sleeping. I asked if I should move the computer out of the way so he could kick back and take a nap, and he popped his head up eyes open, and typed something quickly. I moved aroud to view the screen and it said O sorry I forgot what I was doing – a few extra characters in there, but that’s clearly what it said.He hasn’t typed much, as amongst the clear sentences there are many finger wanderings that get him quite frustrated. Velcro texture has been placed on the home keys for easy locating, but it’s still a bit tricky. Being vision impaired is the obstacle here, not his brain.Today I tried to call out characters as he typed them, to allow him to hear by the characters if his fingers were still in the right position; if he was typing what he intended. I thought it was a great idea! That lasted long enough for him to type out: I DO NOT LIKE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT.Sorry T, I was trying to be helplful.
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