Work, work, work!

What familiar words from my childhood, arriving home from school to the sound of mom greeting us at the door "now it is time to work, work, work!" Well Matt, your time has come. Tuesday it already started with physio. Margaret, his therapist is great, really testing the waters and discovering what Matt can do. I watched her today and she is constantly watching Matt and then asking whether he can do a particular exercise or movement. However she is not satisfied with a negative response until he can prove that he truly cannot do something or Matt just thinks he can't. Yesterday, she asked if Matt can transfer from the chair to the bed by himself. He responded that he couldn't but she told him to try anyway. Cecilia was there to help but all she did was steady him with light touch and the Margaret talked him through it . Matt said it was the hardest thing he has ever had to do but he did it! He was very proud of himself and so were we. We took him to Tony Roma's that night for celebration wings and Matt can usually finish at least 20 but he was so tired his eyes looked like two holes in the snow. She has given some exercises to do, so he is constantly working on thins. For instance, Matt needs to be able to put his heels to the floor, so when he walks again, he won't walk on tiptoes. It will be a challenge though. Every time he tries to tell his brain to put his heel down while sitting in his chair, his leg spasms and he then must tell his brain to stop the clonus(spasm). So there is so much to think about with such a simple action but the more he does it, the more natural it will be.
What the staff are so impressed with is Matthew's attitude and already they love him. He has made friends with many of the patients, all who are much older than he is (by about 40 years). It is so nice to go a visit him and the staff have already warmed up to him.
Matt hasn't been sleeping well though so has been tired. He is also battling a cold and his O2 sats were only at 90%, but increased to 94% as the day progressed. Even though, he still gives his all and I think it makes a huge difference that we are so close and visit so often. Today Matt had an MRI on his brain, neck and left shoulder. The therapist really wants to see what is happening so she knows how to proceed. If Matt has a tear in his shoulder, than they will have to do things differently, such as focusing more on his core muscles and leave the left alone until it is healed, with or without surgery. We won't know until the results come back.
It is so great to write the blog again and have such positive news. God hasn't forgotten about us, He knows what Matt needs more than we do and was just waiting until Matt's body was ready.

Hello everyone. Would love to tell you how Matt is doing but John and I are in Victoria for the weekend and Grandma is babysitting for the weekend. Jacki, Gary and the kids came up to help her out and I know Gary and Matt went into town on Saturday for shopping. I think Gary just wants to drive the new van!
On Friday Matt was official admitted to the rehab unit. However he was just there for the day and then was "discharged" for a weekend pass. They want him to come back Monday evening to be ready for "work" on Tuesday (family day in Alberta for Monday). It sounds like they will be quite strict with Matt and are really going to focus on him being more independent. So instead of us doing a lot of things for Matt, such as getting his money out of his wallet to pay for things, he will have to learn to do it himself. On Friday the physio worked with him for a bit and they are going to continue to build up his core muscles so when he stands again he will be ready. He can have visitors most times except when he has rehab. So it will be tough on him for awhile to adjust but he knows that it is for his best long term goals.
We were unable to take Matt for his weekly massage but will plan again for next week. Still going to go out for his Wednesday wings and massage.
Thanks for any comments you can add, love to hear from everybody.