Day 80 - Day 2 in Rehabilitation

Daniel had to rush through breakfast, but was quite relaxed and calm during all the morning therapy. First he had speech therapy, followed shortly by OT, then PT each lasting around an hour. They did some work with Daniel, but also took notes and asked a lot of questions on how best to interact with Daniel. It's good to see them taking an interest in our son.

Doing some arm stretching with OT L.

He's got the afternoon off from therapist activities and has been visiting with his grandparents. His mom is feeding him candy and a brownie to boost his calorie intake.

Just because he isn't doing 1:1 therapy does not mean he's just laying around although there's some rest time between therapies. He wears his faceplate at night, the gunslinger on both arms for about an hour each side, there's meals he needs to eat - some of it using his left arm, and wound care. We try to put lotion on him several times per day as well as his skin dries out quickly.

One of the new activities he did today was lay with his head off the bed. Then a PT stretched his neck while supporting his head. While that was going on I smoothed his neck, throat and cheeks. He seemed to really enjoy this position.

The scar bands are forming on his arms, body and around his mouth. For his mouth the bands are pulling down on his lower lip and that will make it harder for him to close his mouth. To counteract that we use the MPA, the mouth splints and then massage the skin and "pull" gently again the tug of the scar bands. Over time these actions will break the hold that the scar bands have on his skin and allow him to have more normal function.

Bombs away! Today Daniel had his own ordinance to unload. The use of pain meds (opiates) can take their toll on the regularity of said payload deliveries. We've added fiber and other small munitions to his diet through this period. After some additional prepping the cargo was unleashed successfully. The depiction below roughly matches today's bomb as it had been several days since our last mission. No civilians were harmed during the delivery.

Don't try this at home!