‘Walking Tall’

Well, today when I came in to the Rehab station, the nurses told me that Gina and Mimi were not feeling well. Gina had missed most of her therapy today and was not crazy about lunch either. The doctor came in to see her and told Gina she would like for her to try her afternoon therapy sessions and see what happens. So Gina’s speech therapist along with ‘Ansley’ (specially trained speech therapy dog) came in to get Gina and off they went. I stayed with Mimi and we watched some TV and stayed warm. After a few hours, it was time for me to go and so I said my good byes to Mimi and left to go find Gina to say good bye to her. I could not find her and decided I would just see her tomorrow.

When I went out into the main hallway, there was Gina and some therapists from Rec-Therapy standing in the hallway, shooting hoops!! I couldn’t believe my eyes... why was Gina standing there shooting hoops (underhanded with hackey sacks) with her right hand...and where was her wheelchair??

Then, all of the sudden, the therapist says to Gina, "Ok Gina, let’s turn around and go back to your chair." While the therapists had a hold of her IV pole, Gina grabbed her one-handed walker and proceeded to walk right back down the hall, past me and into her wheelchair!!! I couldn’t find words to speak, so I grabbed for the wall. I was overjoyed! I told her so and that I had to leave for work but I would be back tomorrow. She shook her head to me as ‘ok’. So I left feeling great yet not wanting to leave at all. As I turned the corner, I heard her therapist say, "Ok Gina, let’s go again, but not so fast this time." That was almost too much for me to take in. Good stuff!

Gina’s Occupational Therapist later told Mimi that Gina was lifting a 3Ib weight with her right hand, from her side, all the way above her head. Oh, and one more thing for today, in answer to a request from her occupational therapist the day before, I had brought in Gina’s nylon string guitar for her. They say it will be a part of her rehab to retrain her fingers to eventually the level she was at before. When I pulled Gina’s guitar out of its case, she took it immediately, held it and plucked the strings! What a day!

For Saturday and Sunday, Gina and Mimi are still feeling a little under the weather so they both are going to rest over the weekend to be strong for the next week.

Thanks everyone, great things are happening!


Paul