DAY 219

In PT this morning Rick walked on the treadmill. He walked better than I've ever seen him walk before. His left leg hardly scissored at all and his steps were so good. He can see himself in the mirror when he's walking on the treadmill, and he really concentrates and watches himself walking. He took at total of 213 steps with a break about halfway through. In ST, Meredith wanted to get him outside of the office. He talks really good in an environment without any distraction, but outside of that office he doesn't do as well. So, today she brought him to his room, with the radio playing, his pictures, me and another therapist there to provide some distraction. He handled it pretty good. He loves to tell people about the pictures he has, especially the ones that Marilyn Cheatham took of him at the Remuda Sale at Pitchfork in '08. He worked on dressing in OT, had a case managment group meeting, did the standing frame for an hour, and then played a game of Scattegories. I helped during Scattegories, but he came up with a couple of good answers. During Rick's case management group on of the PT's was taking a group over to the park to play kick ball, but needed one more person. So, I volunteered to go play. It was really a lot of fun...but I can tell I've done nothing for 7 months.

We had visits today from Ginger Elliott, and Mary Lou and Jennifer. Ginger came by at lunch and of course understands so many things that Rick is experiencing. It was great to see Ginger and catch up on the goings on in Guthrie. Mary Lou and Jennifer came by this evening and gave Rick a hard time. Rick kissed Mary Lou on the cheek before she left...the food here is good, but it's not as good as hers! We miss everyone in Guthrie so much.

Well, I'm about to put Rick to bed and head to L&L's...hoping they have some Aleve I can bum from them...my knees are letting me know they didn't have as much fun playing kick ball as I did!

Love,
Crystal