Rehab

May 5, 2016

Today is Den’s first day at RIC. He was transported yesterday and we made a plan that I would come up to see him on my days off. It was the week before Mother’s Day and we were working long days. I was only off on Tuesday and Sunday for the foreseeable future, so he was on his own otherwise. Neither of us were happy about being apart for long periods of time, but we knew it was necessary for the final result…him coming home permanently. We also knew that me being there today would hinder his concentration.

I called Den before I took Em to school. She was so happy that I was home for longer periods of time. We got to have the one on one time that she missed over the last month. Den told me that he would got his schedule for the day last night. I asked what is was so I knew when not to call. I didn’t want to interrupt anything. Today was all about evaluation and his schedule reflected that:

9AM – 1 hour – Occupational Therapy Evaluation

10AM –  1 hour – Physical Therapy Evaluation

2PM – 1 hour – Speech Evaluation (this included cognitive ability)

4PM – 1/2 hour – Physical Therapy session

Den told me that he had his eggs, juice and yogurt for breakfast…he said he ate it all, but I don’t know if I believe him. He told me he did not sleep well. Well, new place and being apart for a few days will mess with anyone’s sleep patterns. I told him to do his best on his evaluations and then I was off to work. We had planned for him to call me when he ate lunch.

When I called his phone at noon, Roberta answered Den’s phone. He was in the bathroom. She told me that the social worker had been in to see Den. He had eaten all of his lunch…grilled cheese sandwich and yogurt. He was in very good spirits and got around in a high backed wheelchair. She even sent me a picture.

I told her to have a good visit and to have Den call me later. I could hear him in the background laughing with Erwin, Roberta’s husband.

About an hour later, Den called me. He had had a long talk with his social worker, Ed. He said that everyone at RIC is very friendly and liked to talk a lot. He was going to be using a walker as well as the wheelchair for therapy and he liked Ed very much. I knew that he had an appointment for another evaluation soon, so we said good bye and I promised to call when I got home from work. Den reminded me to buy lottery tickets…why not try our luck some more.

When I talked to Den just before 8PM, he told me he had taco salad (which he raved about) and a boost drink for dinner. He told me about all of his evaluations and said he tried to do his best. I told him that that was all anyone was asking from him, just keep trying. He said that the speech evaluation had revealed short term memory issues and that would be the focus of that therapy. His long term memory was OK. When we said good night, Den said that he was going to try to not call me during the night…we both needed our rest.