Checking in

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay. I have been checking in with mom on a fairly regular basis, but I couldn't find the time until now to update the blog. It's been a week since I last saw dad and from what mom has described to me, his progress has been phenomenal. 

His right hand dexterity is improving rapidly with occupational therapy and practicing on his own. In particular, he is manipulating putty with his right hand, rolling it out, squeezing it, moving it between fingers, etc. as a means to really ramp up his fine motor skills. 

His verbal comprehension continues to improve, but even better, he is able to say a number of words. He can read out loud certain words from flash cards. Even more, he is getting quite good at the "leading sentence game."  e.g. The speech therapist will say something like  "l am going to move this from my left to my ..." and dad will complete her sentence by saying "right."  Apparently he's gotten quite good at verbalizing opposites on cue. 

Most pleasing and heartwarming to me though was when mom put dad on the phone today and he said "Hi, Todd" as clear as can be. My eyes instantly watered. A small phrase, but what an impact. 

I'll check in soon with (hopefully) more good news. 

Todd

PS - I almost forgot. Dad is back on regular food and regular liquids! They say that getting back to swallowing normal food will also stimulate the voice box. Based on his recent progress, I concur.