Tuesday, December 16...The Texas One-Step!!

You have all heard of the Texas two-step, but Dad has a move of his own ... the Texas one-step! Mom arrived at Dad's physical therapy session this morning a few minutes before I did and got to see Dad take his first step. It was "controlled" by his therapist and a "spotter," but it's a start! Unfortunately, his back was still bothering him and Kelly (the physical therapist) said his hamstring in the right leg is very tight, so it is probably painful for him to try and move that leg right now. So she asked that we try and stretch it out for him when we are with him in his room to try and get it less rigid. Kelly seemed to be satisfied with Dad's progress, so we hope he will start taking bigger strides toward his recovery this week. Barbara, his speech therapist, told Mom that she would do a formal evaulation on him and see if she can't get his "mechanical soft" food/drink order upgraded. Mom plans on checking with her tomorrow to see if she had time to get around to that, because Dad was NOT happy with his meal again tonight. When Mom arrived at the hospital this evening, she found "evidence" of a mid-day visitor. It looks like Dad's friends from Coburn's Wholesale Distributors came to see him and brought lunch as well as an assortment of salsas and preserves for when Dad gets home. Jason/Bob (?!?) hope you don't mind if we go ahead and "sample" them until that happens! Dad had two phone calls tonight ... one from Ricky, and the other from Charlie, his hunting buddy ... and he talked to both of them pretty well. He told Charlie that he was working on his trigger finger, and he told Ricky that he better come and get him out of there! We are hoping to get him out of there for at least several hours on Christmas Day. The case worker told Mom today that they would check his progress again next Tuesday, and if the therapists thought we could handle Dad, they would schedule a short training class for Mom and at least two other family members that would be transporting and helping to care for Dad that day. So, keep those prayers coming; we need Dad to be able to get a little more mobile! We want to give a "shout out" to Dad's nephew, Jack Stone, who had triple by-pass surgery last week and will hopefully be heading home tomorrow. I think both Dad and Jack are looking forward to healthier days ahead!!