Update - 7/15/06
Matthew has been home a week and a half already and he is really enjoying being with his whole family on a regular basis. He also is glad to not have staff coming in every few hours to check his blood pressure and other vitals.
Matthew gets intensive therapy at ResCare in Sedalia every day, 9:00-3:00. They work with him in intensive blocks of time of 45 minute sessions. They have continued what Rusk started by helping Matthew retrain his brain to communicate with his right hand. He has been able to hold onto a pencil between his thumb and index finger and draw a squiggly line. It takes ALOT of effort and concentration on Matthew's part (and someone has to hold his arm at the elbow to steady it), but he is making improvement all the time with his right hand. Matthew has also been working on stretching out his right arm and fingers on his own.
He has also been able to color in a picture with a marker. They have to hold down his left arm to keep it "silent" so the right arm has to do the work.
Matthew has also been improving with his ability to drink through a straw. The ability to purse his lips around the straw gets better each day.
The staff at ResCare are getting to see Matthew's personality peaking out. He has been more expressive with his facial expressions and he even manages to show his humor through his expressions. Matthew is getting more and more comfortable with the staff at ResCare. He also demonstrated his considerate nature when one of the therapists was sitting on a therapy ball near him and when it looked like she might fall off, Matthew reached out with his good arm in what looked like an effort to catch her from falling.
Matthew is now eating lunch and supper without any tube feeding. The only tube feeding is done at breakfast time (when this young man still demonstrates his difficulty with being a morning person). His parents are working with him to hold the spoon or fork himself by using the "hand over hand" method. Matthew's hand rests on theirs as they feed him. This helps to retrain Matthew's brain to think he's feeding himself.
Being at home is very good, but it is also a huge challenge for the family to adjust to the new circumstances, scheduling, meal times, nursing, etc. Family life is very difficult at this time and we pray that in time things will work out for all family members. A new nursing service is on board for a few hours a day and that needs to be adjusted into the schedule as well.
Andrew is enjoying being in Mexico. We pray for his safe return and look forward to hearing about his adventures.
Hope you can stay cool in this heatwave across the country.
Rachel Asburry
Matthew's godmother
Matthew gets intensive therapy at ResCare in Sedalia every day, 9:00-3:00. They work with him in intensive blocks of time of 45 minute sessions. They have continued what Rusk started by helping Matthew retrain his brain to communicate with his right hand. He has been able to hold onto a pencil between his thumb and index finger and draw a squiggly line. It takes ALOT of effort and concentration on Matthew's part (and someone has to hold his arm at the elbow to steady it), but he is making improvement all the time with his right hand. Matthew has also been working on stretching out his right arm and fingers on his own.
He has also been able to color in a picture with a marker. They have to hold down his left arm to keep it "silent" so the right arm has to do the work.
Matthew has also been improving with his ability to drink through a straw. The ability to purse his lips around the straw gets better each day.
The staff at ResCare are getting to see Matthew's personality peaking out. He has been more expressive with his facial expressions and he even manages to show his humor through his expressions. Matthew is getting more and more comfortable with the staff at ResCare. He also demonstrated his considerate nature when one of the therapists was sitting on a therapy ball near him and when it looked like she might fall off, Matthew reached out with his good arm in what looked like an effort to catch her from falling.
Matthew is now eating lunch and supper without any tube feeding. The only tube feeding is done at breakfast time (when this young man still demonstrates his difficulty with being a morning person). His parents are working with him to hold the spoon or fork himself by using the "hand over hand" method. Matthew's hand rests on theirs as they feed him. This helps to retrain Matthew's brain to think he's feeding himself.
Being at home is very good, but it is also a huge challenge for the family to adjust to the new circumstances, scheduling, meal times, nursing, etc. Family life is very difficult at this time and we pray that in time things will work out for all family members. A new nursing service is on board for a few hours a day and that needs to be adjusted into the schedule as well.
Andrew is enjoying being in Mexico. We pray for his safe return and look forward to hearing about his adventures.
Hope you can stay cool in this heatwave across the country.
Rachel Asburry
Matthew's godmother
posted by Randy Asburry @ 2:12 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:35 AM,
Anonymous said…
There is a support group at Bothwell for brain injuries. This may be of some help to the family
At 4:10 PM,
Anonymous said…
good news!
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