Our first few days back at Shirley Ryan have been spent getting our bearings and routines down as much as possible, but most importantly Marcus’ routines. The SRALab team has been thorough, detailed, and welcomingly aggressive so far. Depending on the day, Marcus has up to four therapy sessions in one day, five to six days a week.  Therapies include occupational, speech, physical and respiratory. 

Marcus underwent an assessment to measure his Disorder of Consciousness (DOC). The assessment is scored on how Marcus responds to 23 items, with a possible score of 46 points. The goal of the assessment is not necessarily to get all 46 points but to measure his progress. Marcus scored 18 out of the 46. 
Right now Marcus is most responsive to stimuli on and around his face and his feet, which is common due to the sensitivity of those areas. The plan is to repeat the assessment periodically (every two weeks approx.) to measure progress. 

https://www.sralab.org/rehabilitation-measures/disorders-consciousness-scale

Some of the work that is being done in each therapy:
Physical– Getting his body used to sitting up in a chair for several hours a day, therapist assisted stretching and rotating and holding his head up on his own. 
Occupational– Is basically re-teaching him to do day-to-day things.  We do not know the extent of what the injury is to his brain.  OT involves giving Marcus specific commands to see how or if he will respond.  He has responded to some commands and not others. 
Speech– Primarily this is Marcus response to taste and smell.  Dealing with his senses, additionally being that he is still in a minimally conscious state, they are finding ways for him to communicate until he can speak.  
Respiratory– Capping (closing off) the trache in increasing increments to monitor his breathing strength and health, work with therapist on strengthening the diaphragm, breathing and massage work to “loosen” the muscles (intercostal) between the ribs up to allow lungs to expand more.

His team has said he will be at their facility for a while. This is a marathon, not a sprint. 

We are incredibly grateful to have Marcus at SRALab, and we are optimistically eager to start seeing progress.