Great news about Nate
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August 24, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Hi, I have been posting periodically about my son Nathan. He was diagnosed with GBS December 30,05. He has been thru hell, literally.
Well, he has been working very hard to get himself better. He mastered using his arms very well and moves all around the facilty he is in, every day.
He still has only partial feeling in his legs though but can feel his feet a lot.
Recently he told me he wants to go home.
I told him he had to wait until he got on SSA Disability, then full Medi Cal cause his Cobra won’t cover home care.
Well he got on just this past week and now the ball is rolling.
I told his CaseWorker at the facility he’s in that he is asking to go home.
She didn’t know if he was ready so she ordered an evaluation.
Yesterday Physical Therapy came and got him to do that.
They got on each side of him and stood him up for the first time in 8 mos.
He was so surprised that he could do it. He said it felt great!
His knees kept trying to buckle but he kept pushing them back and stood for a full minute.
Everyone in the room was clapping and cheering. I wish I had been there.
Today they stood him up holding onto him, then had him sit back down.
Then they pushed him over to the paralel bars and told him to grab them and see if he could pull himself up. He did.
He stood for about 2 minutes. He said it was fun.
They had him bend his knees a little but he could not straighten them up again. He just sat down. He tried it again slower and it worked that time.
They told him they will keep working on standing and getting up and down.
Then they will move on to taking a step.
I’m working with his MediCal worker to get things arranged so that he can go home and get home care and physical therapy here.
I am so happy to see that he is getting his legs back. I wondered if he ever would.
I know he’s not totally ok yet, but I know sooner or later he will be.
After everything he’s been thru, its about time for something good to start happening. He needs to get his health back and his life back.
I will be up there tomorrow taking pictures of him standing up with his brother Ben.
All of us are very excited and feeling much better about things now.
All of your support and info has really helped Nathan and my family a lot.
I will keep you updated as he goes.
Trudy, Nates Mom -
August 24, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Hey ma,
That’s great news. I’ve been there, done that, and it does feel good. One thing that might help overall, is to do sit to stands from a higher seating position. A lot less stress on the body working from top down, then from a full sitting position up. Success will come more often and sooner, along with his knee area muscles getting work that need to hold him in position, and you may find he can stand up on his own with a higher seating position, or from a raised up gym matt. This is what I called, finding my immediate working range. I changed from the norm, then leaned my butt on a matt at almost a standing position with feet berely touching the ground, then sprang up on my own to a standing position, while the therapist spotted me on each side while balance was being relearned. This is where it all starts. He’s on his way to walking.
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August 24, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Trudy, that is great news. Please keep us updated on Nate’s progress. make sure he doesn’t over do it, now that he knows he can do things he will be wanting to get up and go, go, go. Give him a big hug for me, and tell him to keep up the Great Attitude!!!:)
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August 24, 2006 at 5:58 pm
What fantastic news Trudy! Its been a long road for you and Nate, and I am glad there has been such improvement. (I remember clearly when you first started posting)
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August 24, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Trudy,
What great news for you and for Nate! This is really a turning point for him.
Congradulations! -
August 25, 2006 at 12:32 am
Great news… It will never get old hearing about others accomplishments with GBS.
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August 25, 2006 at 8:23 am
AWESOME!!! So glad to hear the good news
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August 25, 2006 at 8:40 am
That’s awesome. I bet he is so excited about going home!!! 🙂
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August 28, 2006 at 12:03 am
His case worker told me friday that she thinks he could probably go home some time next month. I have a lot to do to get this place ready.
We just got Pergo in our dining room today, our neighbor is going to build a ramp off the 10×12 front porch which also goes to an outside door leading into Nate’s room.
Our new place has plenty of room for him to wheel around. He should have no problem moving around.
His caseworker says she can help find him new docs down here, arrange for inhome PT, Disabled Bus Access and whatever equipment we need.
It will be so nice not to have to drive 100 miles to see him. He will be right here with us and closer to his brother too.
His brother is going to come down before then and help me with his room.
In the 3 moves, all the electronic stuff turned into a mangled mess of wires.
He works at Fry’s so that’s nothing new to him.
One thing I noticed friday when I saw Nate. His mood was different.
He had enthusiasm. I haven’t seen that in a long time.
He was joking around and wheeling himself really fast.
Its nice to see the old goofy guy again. -
August 28, 2006 at 12:46 am
Trudy,
That is such great news. Tell him welcome home for me. I bet you are all very excited, he has come so far. Take care.
Jerimy
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August 28, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Thats awsome news! I havent been home long but I remember how excited I was when I was told I was comming home so I can only imagin how excited he is.
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August 28, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Hi,
Sounds like he’s doing great. Has anybody ever sat in a wheelchair in your home, then pushed around it everywhere they need to go? What looks like enough room, may be a different story to a person in a chair. This is a great way to see before he gets there, just how easy things are. Like turning into doorways and such. Get the chair from him, or borrow one from PT to take home, sit in it with footplates on, then wheel yourself around the place everywhere he will go. That will help orginize, like stuff in harms way, and reduce frustration tranistioning into the home. I’ll assume, like most places, he’s scooting around pretty good on hard surfaces. How’s he do on carpet? Don’t assume anything if you haven’t been in that situation yourself. As much as I did just that above, I still had trouble around the place. Looks can be decieving.
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August 28, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Thats a great suggestion Racer. When I got home from the hospital, my boyfriend thought he had the house ready for me. The first few days I found more and more alterations that needed to be done such as not being able to reach certain things, etc so that he needed to reorganize some cupboards. He said that those are the types of things that he never even thought of.
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