Took 5 steps, Rolled wheelchair, Loves rehab

Denise has already made a tremendous amount of progress in the rehab facility, and she loves her therapists. Yesterday she only had two hours total of physical & occupational therapy. Today they had four or five hours, from what I could see from the schedule. She took 5 steps with assistance in a walker, got to go outside in a wheelchair, rolled the chair down her hallway all by herself, bathed herself while sitting up at the edge of the bed, and she darn near turned herself on her side by grabbing the rail.
I cheated on the visiting hours and was there for some of the therapy (at Denise's invitation... but I still tried to stay out of the way). I am impressed by what I heard... the therapists are upbeat, personable, and related to Denise in ways that I'm sure made her feel like she was calling the shots whenever possible. She's making the transition from feeling like everyone has to take care of her to feeling like she can start doing for herself now. Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, it's a very different ballgame in rehab, compared to the "regular" hospital. She still has the medical attention, but she doesn't feel nearly as helpless.
She called me in the morning so I could bring her some clothes from home. Of course I brought stuff that doesn't match, but that's because I'm a guy. The therapists said that they've never had a husband get the wardrobe right yet. I fit right in! But for the first time in months, she wore something besides a hospital gown (or *an* hospital gown, if you prefer). My mom went on a shopping trip to get Denise some comfy clothes to wear. Part of her therapy is dressing herself. The OT said that she won't have Denise doing many exercises... she'll get a muscle workout just doing real-world tasks, like getting dressed. Anyway, it reminded me of one day at Arcadia Methodist when she couldn't talk, but indicated she wanted to shop for new clothes, because she hated the pattern on the gown.
I forgot to mention yesterday that the dressing on her tracheostomy has been removed. She just has a little dimple in her throat that needs to heal up. Also last night, I received calls from doctors to discuss Denise's history so far. I was sitting at the computer most of the time, looking up info to answer their questions. During last night's shift change, she needed attention, but dropped her call button. So she phoned me to ask if I could call the nurse's station and request that someone drop in on her. As for today, there was a 2-D echocardiogram (I don't know if that's any different than any of her other echoes). I wasn't on hand for any vitals, but she looked, sounded, and acted stronger than yesterday. Must have been the new clothes making her happy.

Request:
I'm trying to find a page magnifier for Denise... the kind that's a Fresnel lens that you can just lay on a page. Not a round magnifying glass with a handle. I've not been able to find one. Anybody know where I can get one?

Shameless Plug:
I signed the kids up to be in the Rosebud Parade tomorrow morning. Kids decorate their wagons, trikes, strollers, or whatever, and then go parading up & down a stretch of Lake Avenue in Pasadena. An added bonus is that the 2006 Rose Parade Queen will be there, and she happens to be a former student of mine. I taught her everything she knows about poise and tact, and I'm very proud of her. If you're interested, here's the info:
Saturday Nov. 12
Decorating begins 8am,
Parade begins 10am
South Lake Ave. in Pasadena, between Granite & Del Mar (across from the Macy's). No parking on the street during the parade, but you can park behind the stores on the east side of Lake Avenue.

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