With Halloween this last week, we had the opportunity to experience the holidays at Shirley Ryan. The discussions naturally turned to Marcus and his enjoyment of dressing up. We revisited his previous costumes, and when it was mentioned that he had been Olaf one year, therapists were curious to see a photo. A photo was shown to therapists and Marcus, asking him if he remembered. Marcus’ radiant smile was a source of comfort and joy. We are grateful for the therapists’ dedication and their role in Marcus’s progress.

In speech therapy, we witnessed a couple of promising signs this week. Marcus is progressing from ice chips to more challenging textures like applesauce, yogurt, cranberry juice, and lemon ice. For the first time, they handed Marcus a straw and asked him to drink from it. He managed to get the water about 3/4 of the way to his mouth, a significant step, giving us more hope and optimism.

These exercises/activities work on a few things:

-Listening to commands
-Re-learning how to control breathing while swallowing
-Giving him food choices to see if he will communicate his choice to us

This is all great news/progress as the calendar turns to November, and we enter month three of this journey.