Thursday, January 18, 2007

Yet another hospital-borne illness...

Hello there! Neil has been making very slow progress up in Columbia as he has contracted another hospital-borne infection. This one affects his digestive system and is wreaking havoc. Neil was moved to his own room while he's got this infection. All the treatments were not working, but they found a drug that seems to have helped. It looks like he may have turned a corner and is in the process of recovering. He has had his clam-shell brace removed and he doesn't have to wear the boots on his feet while he's laying in bed. The program at this hospital is like a 9-5 job in that the patient is expected to be up and dressed by 9am. Then the day is filled with physical therapy, occupational therapy and classes. It's an intensive program designed to get the patient as independent as possible in 30 days. He may have to come back from time to time for more intensive work, and they expect it to take a full year of rehab to really get the patient fully self-sufficient (dependent on the individual's physical limitations). The intestinal infection has slowed down his ability to do therapy, but hopefully he will be able to get back into full swing soon. Neil still speaks in only a hoarse whisper, but there is no damage to his vocal cords. His muscles are tightening too much when he tries to speak, but we're hopeful that through speech therapy the problem will be fixed. Thank you for your prayers and support.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good words.