CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD
John rested well on the weekend and was eager to begin a week of therapy on Monday morning. He continued on the trach collar with no breathing trouble at all. The Guillain-Barre paralysis is particularly very evident on the left side of his face and is causing trouble with the left eye. Some of the discomfort and inability to open it is probably a result of tiring easily. Along with the throat/mouth/swallowing problems, the right leg also needs a lot of therapy and nerve return.
The significant step forward today: the PT therapists got John upright on the "tilt table"! That was a bit scary, but exhilarating. At first they stopped at a 45 degree angle. When John got his bearings a bit - and was not dizzy and had no trouble with blood pressure dropping - he did 20 slight "squats" on that right leg. That was hard! Then they took him up to 60 degrees which put about 2/3 of his weight on that leg. While upright he also did the regular workout with his arms. This was John's first time to be upright since Nov. 2 which is very exciting.
The doctors and therapists remind us that this syndrome is very rare (1-2 in 100,000 people) and about 10% of those 1-2 people contract the most severe type. John is one of those people. Everyone on the floor who has watched John since he arrived there, is simply amazed at the changes in the past two weeks. John is pleased with his progress and we listen eagerly to the many plans for the coming days of treatment and returning strength. God has been very generous in answering our prayers.
at this stage, most of my patients are griping about my insistance on drawing the alphabet with their toes/ feet/ ankles... it's a mentally concentrated effort task with tons of benefits without the physical exhaustion associated with large muscle movements! (I make 'em do upper and lower case once per hour!) Good luck with the golden window progression!.
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