back on the bike

HI ALL,
Sorry for not writing sooner. The past few days have been very exciting at the hospital (in a good way).

Walt has been improving in leaps and bounds every day. it has been terrific seeing so many people at the hospital visiting. Unfortunately for some, they have arrived when Walt has been napping and can that man nap through anything!

On the physical side Walt is sitting in a chair and last night they had him standing briefly. He needs more physical therapy on his legs to help him be ready to walk. This afternoon they brought in a portable pedalling machine and he was able to pedal quite well as long as we held his feet on the pedals. he has a series of exercises he should be doing as much as possible so remind him when you are there. There are some sheets in his room with the illustrations.

He is drinking from a cup and beginning to eat. He is not liking the hospital food too much so is not eating enough to sustain himself so is still being tube fed as well.

His talking can still be very soft and difficult to hear but his conversations can be very coherent and articulate. He is also showing some signs of being able to hold things in his short term memory as well as pull things from long term memory. Yesterday he told me about an incident last year when I fell off the ski lift knocked him over and then slid across his skis and twisted his bad knee. I felt so bad we went back to the lodge and I bought him several beers to numb the pain! yesterday he also decided to give me a nickname and stared calling me Coco even though he was also calling me Corinne. I was interested to see if he would remember today. Sure enough I am still Coco, I wonder if I remind him of a poddle?

He still gets confused especially it seems when he is tired. His concentration span is also pretty short. Today he had to wear the mitts all day as he kept trying to launch himself out of the chair and pull at his tubes. He can get very frustrated with his limitations.

Everyone I have talked to at the hospital seems to have their own stories of conversations with Walt. Please write them down here so we can all enjoy having him back. It would seem that he has not lost his sense of humor.

Cheers to all
Corinne