Riding Tandum

Suzy's New Exercise Routine

Suzy showing off her new exercise room and workout routine:

January 5, 2011

Just as I got home from a dinner meeting and was taking off my coat, my cell phone beeped like it does when I receive a text. I figured it was a reply to a text I had sent earlier to someone at the meeting. As I got my phone out of my coat pocket, I was pleasantly surprised to see the text was from Brent. 

Brent: new videos going up. Notice the long steps and smoothness of the walk. She's walking without the cane for workouts, but with these big steps she gently touches the bar.

Me: Awesome!

Excitedly, I quickly logged in to YouTube to check out the new videos! I can't quit smiling! Suzy has made such great progress.

Can I just tell you how proud I am of my little sister?! It is exciting to see how far she has come. Physical therapy has not been easy...with the 45 minute drives both there and back, plus the seven hours of therapies every day, it has been a big commitment of time and energy. Hard both mentally and physically. There were times when the therapists gave her new challenges that scared her...I'll never forget the nervous look on her face as Liz handed her a cane on her second day of PT and told her she was going to use it instead of the bar on the wall as she walked...but with every new challenge Suzy gave 100%. This stroke hit Suzy like a hard right hook out of nowhere, but she has fought back with a smile on her face.

As she is getting ready to graduate on Friday, I imagine she is both excited and nervous. Excited to be moving forward and nervous to be moving on to new things. Suzy and Brent have found an outpatient program closer to their home where Suzy can continue with her physical therapy three time a week. I am sure Suzy will be the bright spot there, just like she has been at Sharp.

~Michelle

Merry Christmas!

Brent has been working on Suzy's Christmas present since Thanksgiving, when Michelle and her family were in town. One day while Michelle took Suzy to Physical Therapy, her husband and two boys helped Brent and the boys de-clutter their bonus room. Then after Thanksgiving Brent had a hardwood floor installed, so he could turn the bonus room into an exercise room for Suzy. 

Knowing that Suzy will be graduating from Physical Therapy on January 7th, Brent wanted to get things set up at the house so that Suzy would be able to continue with her therapy at home. He had the idea to customize Suzy's bike, so that she would be able to use it as an exercise bike. After meeting with her physical therapists to find out what would be safe, he met with someone that would be able to do the work for him.

Christmas morning Suzy had a great surprise!

Suzy's right foot has a tendency to turn in towards the chain, so they are having to tape the foot to the pedal & hold it straight while she pedals.

In preparation for Suzy graduating from the physical therapy program in a few weeks, they have been given some exercises to be doing at home.  She has made some great progress with lifting her leg and was able to surprise Brent the other night when she showed him she can raise it about 10-15 inches from a laying position. Hopefully we will have videos of her progress soon.

Suzy is also now able to go up the stairs by herself...no one watching or helping!

November 23, 2010

Occupational Therapy
Suzy working her arm






Physical Therapy
Suzy had some company during her PT workout today.
Sometimes they worked out with her...






And sometimes, they were a little distracting...but. Suzy loves the company when the boys can attend rehab with her.




Suzy's walking is improving daily!




I think Robby forgot who he was supposed to be videoing...


Walking sideways


Walking backwards

Lots of Videos!

There haven't been many videos lately, because I accidentally brought the cord for downloading videos and the battery charger for the camera home to Utah. Now that the cord is safely back where it belongs we have lots of videos from the last three Fridays.

More speech therapy from October 26th.



This one is kind of long, but the last five seconds are the best part of the video!



In this one Suzy explains a very interesting fact...



Suzy pedaling



Each week as part of the routine, Suzy makes goals of what she wants to accomplish both during rehab and also at home. Then on Friday they have an Accomplishments meeting where the patients discuss the progress they made during the week. This is a video of Suzy's turn reviewing her goals and the progress made toward accomplishing them.


The part where she is talking about "leaving the chair" is referring to the fact that Suzy hadn't been bringing the wheelchair upstairs for two days.

November 11, 2010

Spencer flew home to visit for a long weekend and got to go to rehab with Brandon and video Suzy.





The physical therapist took advantage of Suzy having two strong boys with her, and had her walk on the treadmill.





Suzy's speech is really improving!





Occupational Therapy



November 12, 2010

Friday Brent was able to stay and video Suzy during her rehab.

The muscles in Suzy's right arm and shoulder have a lot of tone (they are really tight) so in Occupational Therapy she does quite a bit of stretching to help loosen them up.



They also use electronic stimulus to help stimulate the nerves and muscles.



The fingers on Suzy's right hand have a tendency to curl up, so during occupational therapy they will sometimes tape them open. Next week she has an appointment to get Botox injections to help relax the muscles in her hand. Getting the injections will help the therapists to see how much use she will be able to regain.





Suzy practiced walking without the cane!











She was even able to walk the whole length of the bars without stopping or grabbing on! Way to go Suz!



Step ups & Side steps:




At the end of the last video as Suzy looked up she comments "I'm the only one working!" Everyone else had stopped to watch Suzy.



Suzy has been working so hard! It's great to be able to see her progress & watch as she gives her therapists everything she's got...and do it with a joke and a smile!

Speech Therapy

A couple of videos of Suzy in speech therapy.
October 26, 2010