Occupational Therapy 10/14/2010

Even though Suzy still has no sensation in her right arm, in Occupational Therapy the goal is to continue working and exercising the arm. Even though Suzy's brain can't feel the arm, she can still send messages to it to move the arm. By continuing to engage the arm this way, when she gets the feeling back her movements will be more controlled.

Occupational Therapy: therapy based on engagement in meaningful activities of daily life which restore a physically disabled person's ability to perform activities such as walking, eating, drinking, dressing, toileting and bathing.

Suzy's haircut...

In order to make life easier, Suzy got a haircut today. It's taken a while to get the long beautiful hair she had, but not being able to care for it the way she'd like to has been hard.



Not only is the new style adorable & easy to care for, but some sweet little girl with cancer will have a curly wig thanks to Suzy's donation to Locks of Love.

Suzy heading to bed...

Glad to be home...

Suzy has been home since Saturday, October 2nd. She had hopes of being able to sleep in her own bed, but first they needed a banister to be hung on the wall. A friend, Steve Huyett, built a customized banister to match the existing one for Suzy. This is a special banister to Suzy because some of the wood Steve used was left over pieces from a coffin he had built for a dear friend. It was a nice surprise to arrive home to today.

Being home though actually means more work then before. Suzy is now going to rehab from 9 to 3 weekdays. In addition to the physical, occupational and speech therapy she also participates in groups to help with memory, writing, stress management, journaling, quantitative concepts and deductive reasoning. Needles to say, by 4 o'clock when she get home she is worn out and ready to relax.

10-01-2010

They made a custom brace for Suzy's right leg. It will help keep her toes lifted when she steps, as well as support her ankle and prevent it from rolling.

The brace really improved her walking.


For physical therapy Suzy practiced on the stairs in the parking garage to make sure she would be okay on the stairs at home.




During speech therapy, Suzy would have to place a series of pictures in the orer they happened, then tell what is happening in each picture.

Yep, That's Suzy...

As I have been here at the rehab center with Suzy for the past two days, one thing is very clear...everyone LOVES Suzy!

As the nurses come on shift, even if they are not assigned to Suzy for the day, they all come by to say "Hi" and check on Suzy. As she attends her occupational, speech, and physical therapy sessions, all the therapists tell her what a joy she is to work with. During her sessions, Suzy not only gives them everything she's got, but does it with a smile and a joke or two. In the words of her speech therapist, she is "the bright spot in everyone's day."

I am sure that as most of you read this you are thinking, "Yep, that's Suzy!" She has always been one of those people, that other people want to get to know and be around. She still that same Suzy!

Suzy's day here at the rehab center starts at 7 a.m. and her day is full of hard work, both physically and mentally, so by the end of the day she is tired. One evening after a long day of working, Suzy had a visitor that stayed a little long. After the visit Brent apologized to Suzy that the visit had gone so long, but Suzy said, "It's okay, I don't mind ,because he talks to me like you talk to me." She appreciated that he talked to her just as he had prior to the stroke, he did not "dumb down" his speech when talking with Suzy.

Communicating what she wants to say is sometimes hard for Suzy, because the words get stuck in her head; but she understands what is being said to her perfectly, and notices when people talk down to her and treat her like a child. She is no less then she was before the stoke, she is still the same lovable, funny & fun to be with Suzy that she always was!
~Michelle