tuesday evening

gen did a good job in all her therapies today. her pool therapist came to talk to us after that session and said gen had taken two steps by herself in the pool, and she had moved her arm away from her body all on her own. that is new, and sarah said she would work more with the arms next time. in speech gen worked on breathing technique again. she has two devices she has to use during this practice. one measures the breath she blows into the mouthpiece and the other measures the air she inhales through the mouthpiece. it is an effort for her to get the lungs and mouth and lips all to cooperate and breathe when she wants them to. her numbers are improving every time she tries this exercise. she does well also remembering to switch from breathing out as much air as she can, and breathing in as much air as she can, for the two different tests. in ot she worked again on moving her arms up and on eating. in pt/ot co-treat she did some walking with the walker, with two therapists and josh helping her and with me standing by, ready to put a chair behind her when she needed to sit. in the afternoon, gen did the treadmill again, and we had two new therapists working with our regular ones. these therapists are in the rehab-day area, and they will be working with gen when she transfers to rehab-day on monday of next week. she did very well on the treadmill, upping the number of sets to 6, and walking for 2 minutes at a time twice. she is, of course, supported by the equipment and is helped by three therapists to take the steps, but she is initiating the muscle movement more and more, and she is keeping herself upright. all the therapists helping today commented on how much better she is at supporting her torso herself and how well her legs were working today. we are so encouraged by her improvement, and we pray it will continue as she makes this change away from the hospital and in-patient therapy. we know that the people here are determined that the change will be seamless for her. please keep us in your prayers these next few days especially: tomorrow i will have to make a round-trip to the nearest town in missouri where we can get gen's prescriptions filled. (as of friday evening she won't get her meds here anymore, and medicaid requires that we get them in missouri). after i get back from there, i will be driving home tomorrow night. then on friday after gen's last therapy session, she and josh will be moving her into the apartment. this will be a big adjustment, and hopefully a good and happy one for them to get to be out of the hospital and into an apartment.

susan
ps jenny: "little stuart rifkin likes to go shopping with his mommy."