6/19 - Legs!

Time for another update. This one is about Jaime doing physical therapy and some new tidbits on her physical recovery. She’s picked up the pace on her physical therapy regimen. I’m very happy to report that Jamie has been working very hard at PT at home. She’s scheduled for only three hours of physical therapy a week (and three hours of occupational therapy a week, and some wound care too), which really isn’t that much. Even though the outpatient PT and OT folks are supposed to be hard-asses, Jamie needs to keep up the hard work on her own. She’s been keeping up her part of the bargain in this regard and has been doing PT twice a day. Just for fun, here's a picture of Jaime doing physical therapy at St. David's. Fun stuff, huh?

Here’s an example about how the little things make the biggest difference in Jamie’s recovery. As you know, we’ve spoken at length about the wounds on Jamie’s kneecaps that were not closing well. Since her surgery a few weeks back to take care of her problematic right kneecap, both kneecaps began healing and, we’re happy to announce that Jamie has been given the OK to wear her prosthetics by her PT/OT folks at St. David’s and JP (Jamie Peronne, from Hanger Prosthetics, for the uninitiated). She needs to build her tolerance to the weight of the prosthetics. She’ll be wearing them while in the wheelchair, and she’ll use in order to balance herself when transitioning from the chair to the couch (or elsewhere). Even though she can’t stand on her own yet, I helped her from her stand up yesterday out of the wheelchair. It was very cool to help her stand, and I’m looking forward to the day where she can stand next to me without my supporting her… did I mention how tall she is? She’s at least 5’ 7” but may be as tall as 5’ 9”. On a related note, I’m getting shorter.

But there’s more to love about wearing the prosthetics. Finally (Finally!) she can put her feet on the ground to support herself. She hadn’t been able to stabilize herself on the ground since November. She can push herself with her feet and propel the wheelchair a few feet. When she’s changing the TV channel (thank goodness she can do this on her own, along with use her phone), she can put the remote on her thigh and push down on the buttons without her leg giving way. She can rest her feet on the coffee table… just lots of things she can do now, and she isn’t even walking yet. I’m very happy with what I’m seeing on this front. More updates later.