August 16, 2017 10:00 pm
Josh's first class today was OT. We had a new therapist and she spent the entire hour exercising Josh's eyes to try and strengthen them. (Which turned out to be a bad idea, as we will discuss later.)
Then he had ST. Again, she was a new therapist. She started by asking Josh to recite the alphabet. He got stuck 5 times and needed help. (He doesn't remember the Alphabet Song.) Then she pulled out a flip board with a bunch of pages that had 2 letters on it, like this:
W
W
or
C
X
She asked, "Are these letters the same or different?" He said, "Different" every time. After 5 or 6 boards, Mary said, "Those are the same." Then he said, "The same" every time, even when they were different. It's strange because he can say, "Those letters are 'C' and 'X'" but when asked if they are the same or different, he will answer "They're the same!"
That wasn't working so she tried something different. She showed him a picture (broom) and there were three words under the picture (groom, broom, brown). She said, "Choose the word that describes the picture." He chose every one of them wrong. So Mary took the flip book from the therapist, pointed to the picture of the broom, and said, "Josh, what is that?" He couldn't name any of the pictures. He can read the words, but he can't recall object names.
So she tried something different. She got a pen, a cup, a spoon, and a fork. She held up the cup and asked, "What is this?" He said, "Cup." She held up the spoon and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "Spoon." She held up a pen and asked, "What is this?" We've discovered that if he doesn't know the name of something, most of the time he goes all Balderdash on us. He answered, "ploey" (rhymes with Zoe). She held up a ball and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "Zamboozey." She held up a fork and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "zebra."
We know for sure that Josh has a high level of difficulty recalling object names. He doesn't talk very much, and one of the possible reasons for it is because he can't put what he wants to say into words. But when the therapist took a different approach, Josh performed much better.
Josh had PT later this afternoon. Again, a new therapist. They walked a lot, and she thinks Josh doesn't need to be in a wheelchair. But our usual therapist disagrees. She thinks Josh's balance isn't good enough yet.
Lastly, Josh had vision clinic. The ophthalmologist said the same thing all the doctors say, "I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see." But he was somewhat encouraged by the fact that Josh's bad eye had made some progress. We learned that Josh's eye suffered two injuries, one to the part of the brain that is part of the vision process and the other to the eye itself, shoving the eye back in its socket and damaging the optic nerve. We also learned that there are one and a half million cords coming from the optic nerve.
The nurses weighed Josh today. He came in at a whopping 127.3 lbs. Come on, man, lay off the sweets!!
Josh's first class today was OT. We had a new therapist and she spent the entire hour exercising Josh's eyes to try and strengthen them. (Which turned out to be a bad idea, as we will discuss later.)
Then he had ST. Again, she was a new therapist. She started by asking Josh to recite the alphabet. He got stuck 5 times and needed help. (He doesn't remember the Alphabet Song.) Then she pulled out a flip board with a bunch of pages that had 2 letters on it, like this:
W
W
or
C
X
That wasn't working so she tried something different. She showed him a picture (broom) and there were three words under the picture (groom, broom, brown). She said, "Choose the word that describes the picture." He chose every one of them wrong. So Mary took the flip book from the therapist, pointed to the picture of the broom, and said, "Josh, what is that?" He couldn't name any of the pictures. He can read the words, but he can't recall object names.
So she tried something different. She got a pen, a cup, a spoon, and a fork. She held up the cup and asked, "What is this?" He said, "Cup." She held up the spoon and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "Spoon." She held up a pen and asked, "What is this?" We've discovered that if he doesn't know the name of something, most of the time he goes all Balderdash on us. He answered, "ploey" (rhymes with Zoe). She held up a ball and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "Zamboozey." She held up a fork and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "zebra."
We know for sure that Josh has a high level of difficulty recalling object names. He doesn't talk very much, and one of the possible reasons for it is because he can't put what he wants to say into words. But when the therapist took a different approach, Josh performed much better.
Josh had PT later this afternoon. Again, a new therapist. They walked a lot, and she thinks Josh doesn't need to be in a wheelchair. But our usual therapist disagrees. She thinks Josh's balance isn't good enough yet.
Lastly, Josh had vision clinic. The ophthalmologist said the same thing all the doctors say, "I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see." But he was somewhat encouraged by the fact that Josh's bad eye had made some progress. We learned that Josh's eye suffered two injuries, one to the part of the brain that is part of the vision process and the other to the eye itself, shoving the eye back in its socket and damaging the optic nerve. We also learned that there are one and a half million cords coming from the optic nerve.
The nurses weighed Josh today. He came in at a whopping 127.3 lbs. Come on, man, lay off the sweets!!
I remember how Eenie used to have migraines all the time. I dunno if she still has them - hope not - but I'm really glad Josh doesn't have any horrible pain as associated with this accident. I've been reading about people who are miserable and suicidal due to terrible pain, both real and phantom, from head and brain injuries to the point life is nothing but a living hell. I'm thankful Josh doesn't suffer from such things and hope he never does.
ReplyDelete