August 3, 2010

Over the past 14 months, John has participated in many different types of therapy. At TIRR, his therapists have been both creative and in many instances ingenious in their approach to finding activities to specifically help John. They recently asked Hudd to bring in a Kayak that John used at the coast. The intention was to help John with balance and core strength as well as help him with strength and coordination. John absolutely loved it and it was a nice change of pace for him.

In the next few weeks, we should be getting more information about where John may go next. Although TIRR is great, it's not a long-term solution because it is considered intensive therapy and patients usually stay there until they improve enough to leave or plateau so that the therapy isn't quite as effective. Our hope is that John will be eligible to go to an intermediate facility like Mentis again. Staving off the effects of Dystonia is a constant battle which requires a lot of therapy so him being accepted at a facility like Mentis would be great.

I recently was walking/jogging around the pond near John and Holly's house and I called to ask Holly how far around it is. She mentioned that when they first moved in, John went to the pond with a wheel measuring device and measured the diameter of the pond carefully marking 1/8 mile marks in blue paint circles. Every time I walk around the pond now I look for the markers and although at first, some of them were hard to find...they are there. It seems that at this point, John is continuing to measure and mark blue circles in his life and while they may not measured in miles or portions of miles, they are certainly measured and worthy of a feeling of accomplishment. Maybe his blue circles are at such moments as a memory or taking steps or speaking or sitting in a kayak. For me, when I walk around the pond I have an instant reminder of John and when I get tired of jogging I simply look for that next blue dot and keep on going.