Friday, January 30 - AND THE WINNER IS...

George Luker, for the “Most Motivated Patient” Award!! C-Mae, the director of therapy, told Dad he was the hands-down winner of her award this week during the team evaluation meeting at Cane Island this morning. She told Mom, Dad, and the rest of the team, that if his motivation was all that was needed to walk, he would be running by now! She said Dad was the first to wheel himself into therapy every morning, and has also made the trek back after lunch some days to ask for more time try to “walk.” C-Mae went on to explain that she feels Dad’s inability to balance himself while standing is the main problem, because after just a minute or so, he “hyper-extends.” So, they are going to take just a little more time stimulating the nerves and working the muscle in Dad’s leg before they try ordering him a type of orthodic brace that would fit in his shoe to help him balance and stabilize that leg so he might have better luck walking. Mae also told Mom and Dad that they were a “very cool couple” to be around and she wished that their paths had crossed for different reasons, but knew that they would make the best of the situation and there was certainly hope on the horizon! Barbara, Dad’s speech therapist from KRH, is also working with him at Cane Island. Dad loved Barbara, so he is always happy to see her; in fact, Dad told Mom that he and Barbara played a couple of games of “Go Fish” this week! The Nursing Manager reported that Dad has surpassed their clinical goal of him being stable … blood pressure, blood sugar, blood count, etc., have all been holding steady within the normal range. So, all in all, dad had a good evaluation for his first week at Cane Island, and we are happy to report that the weekday staff has been nothing but nice and very attentive. We forgot to mention in our Wednesday blog update that the St. Peter’s Care Team sent flowers over to Dad which were hand-delivered by Grandma (along with a cheeseburger and fries) this past Tuesday. They certainly perked up Dad’s room, and he appreciates the care team’s continued prayers and get-well cards he receives from them. And Thursday afternoon, Dr. Bing paid Dad a visit, as well as Shirley & Ike Lucas, and Joanne Ligon. Today, Paul and Terry Ponder came to see Dad and gave him all of the latest scoop within the plumbing industry, and he also received a call from his brother Johnny who lives near Corpus. We can’t tell you how much all of you brighten Dad’s day; thank you for remembering him!