We’re off to a great start in Marcus’ first full week at Shirley Ryan since being down here. We’re starting to see some progress in recovery. Marcus had his trache switched out to a less invasive design, which gets him another a step closer to getting it taken out.

As mentioned previously, Marcus has up to five sessions of therapy a day. They have kept him very active. Here is a recap of exercises and activities that have been worked on over the past couple of days:
• Wiped his hands, arms and face with a wet towel looking for any type of reaction. He did turn his head away when she wiped his face.
• Range of motion exercises with his hands. 
• Sat him up  and tried to get him to visually track two black and white pictures. He moved his head and eyes ever so slightly. He seems to turn better to his right side as opposed to left. 
• Sitting upright on a mat where his ability to hold his head up was tested. 
• Had me say his name to see if he could follow my voice. 
• Put him on a Tilt table and moved the table up 20 degrees at a time until he was almost in a full standing position.
• Speech therapy has been spoon feeding Marcus ice chips, cranberry juice, Sprite and Gatorade. There are two goals for this therapy, the first is to get Marcus to relearn how to swallow, the second is to try to find a communication method where Marcus can indicate he wants more of the beverage.
• Put him on a ramp on his stomach to give his body some other positions to be in. This is the first time he’s been on his stomach.

Most of the therapy time has been spent in their workout room. The number of tools and resources at their disposal are incredible. All of therapists so far enjoy working with Marcus and have commented on how supported he seems to be. The responses and movements he is making are still very minor right now, but it is encouraging to see them when they happen.

Slow and steady wins the race…