Dylan's progress lately is AMAZING!!! I think he surprises his therapists on a daily basis. We have seen him do some things we weren't aware he could do. We saw his occupational therapist, the one who teaches him how to shower, comb his hair, brush his teeth...,on Saturday morning and she had him getting out of bed and into the wheelchair with hardly any assistance from her. She said he was doing 95% of the work and she was really only there in case he lost his balance. We didn't even know he could transfer himself like that! Then he has been walking, with minimal assistance, on a platform walker, it's a walker with a brace that he can hold onto at chest level, all over the gym and downstairs. He's doing so good they want to move him to another rehab facility quicker than originally planned. Dan and I are trying to figure out what's best for Dyl right now, we were originally told that he would need 3 to 5 years of intensive therapy and it hasn't even been

one year yet... we'll see what happens. He's able to shower himself and get to and from the toiled pretty well now. They are still working on that a bit but he's doing good. His toe is waay better now, the nail is growing back and it seems to be good. He's always very excited to go outside and to the park, we've been doing that the last couple of weekends since it's finally cooling off. He likes to sit under the trees and watch the people in the park.

 

They are having a big Halloween party on Sunday, we got Dyl a costume and he's really excited to do the trunk-or-treat they have set up. His blood sugar seems to be leveling out pretty well too and his meals seem to be portioned to match the insulin he's getting for coverage he's happy because it's waaaay bigger portions than they were giving him so he's not hungry all the time and he has more energy for therapy and just the day in general. 

We are trying to get into contact with the nutritionist too so we can see what kind of meals they would want us to prepare for him when he gets home...we also have to get a ramp installed at the front door and a few other modifications to the house before he can come back home. We are hoping to start working on that sooner versus later they also have to send someone from phoenix out to inspect to make sure the house is user-friendly for Dylan before he can come home. The doorways need to be wide enough for a wheelchair and he needs to be able to access the bathroom and kitchen. I am hoping to speak to a therapist from Barrow's soon to find out exactly what kind of time-frame Dylan has when he gets there for therapy, they are saying 3 weeks and then he's released home...that seems awfully quick, but we have to find out the details. Dan is thinking that if we can keep Dyl where he is into March or April then move him to more intensive therapy after he has time to really build on the skills he's learning now that would be better. He's not voluntarily talking too much at this point, we usually have to ask him questions to get him to talk to us, and he's not walking on his own yet and they haven't gotten him totally toilet trained yet so we want to wait until all that's complete before we move him so that he's not trying to accomplish everything at once in a really short period of time. 

His right side really seems to be coming on well too, they have a new wheelchair that he controls pretty well with his arms and legs. He's getting to the point where he goes all over the facility on his own. The staff said that he gets into the elevator and goes downstairs sometimes when he's bored and they found him stuck in the opening one day, the wheel wouldn't budge, but he still goes all over the place it's good that he's more mobile and doesn't sit in his room all day!! We are thinking of having them restrain the left arm for therapy a little bit to really get the right arm going quicker, but we aren't sure yet...have to talk to therapy more about that ~Keri

Dylan's doing sooo great right now. The doctors and nurses are ecstatic with his progress! His blood sugar levels seem to be on track, finally, we had to adjust his night time insulin a couple of times, and it’s still a work in progress, but he seems to be on the right track now. He is also eating larger portions of food at mealtimes, which I know he enjoys, and it also gives him some much needed energy to push through the day! He’s doing physical therapy five days a week and is now walking with the aid of a walker! He is able to walk circuits around the large gym with the walker now ;) So awesome to see him do that!!! We also have him doing school through the East South Mountain High School district, he’s enrolled as a freshman there and is going to be doing classes at Hacienda so he can continue with his physical therapy regiment. We are soooo jazzed that he’s enrolled in school though, it will alleviate some of the boredom and loneliness that he’s feeling during the week when he doesn’t have so many visitors.
We have really been diligently working on his speech exercises so that he’s more pronounced in his words and its becoming easier to understand what he’s saying! He’s also initiating more conversations on his own now, he seems happier on the whole as well, they have quit giving him the situation anti-depressant medication he was previously on. The doctor says that Dyl is doing very well without it, he spends quite a bit of his day down at the nurses station talking to the nurses and people that come in and out of the unit.
We are also making it a point to take Dyl on outings outside the Hacienda facility. We have taken a trip to the museum, a few (million) trips to the mall, trips to Target and WalMart and just car rides when he wants to go out but we don’t really have anyplace to go. He really enjoys riding in the car and jamming out to “his” music. We are working on many outings now that it’s getting cooler outside and Dylan really enjoys spending time outdoors. We are excited to do some zoo trips and many other outdoor things.
He is all geared up for Trunk or Treat on Halloween at Hacienda…he’s going as a pimp. He chose his costume and is very excited, the residents get to dress up and go outside for the event. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun!


We are also working on getting Dyl’s AFO’s (the braces he wears on his feet for walking) adjusted as he is now needing them shaved down quite a bit, his left foot should be completely level with the floor and his right foot has only one platform needed!!! It’s great news since we were so worried about the drop foot that he was starting to get. His ingrown toenail is doing great too. The podiatrist took off the whole nail a couple of weeks ago and it is healing very nicely.
Dylan is doing great with all his endeavors, every weekend when we go see him there is so much improvement!! He’s making us so proud!!! It’s hard to remember all that he has done over the last few weeks since there has been so much, but he’s definitely improving on a daily basis.
This weekend Dan and I had him walking, without the aid of a walker (we each held one of his arms) all the way down the hall and into the day room!!! Needless to say the staff was amazed that he could do that, they hadn’t seen him walk that far before and he wasn’t tired, we could have walked up and down the hall more but it was time to eat dinner ;)


Please continue to keep Dyl in your thoughts and prayers!! Thank you for all the support!!!


~Keri