First half of Day 3 at Mayo

Thursday Update #1

We started this day on edge. Both of us were exceptionally nervous and uptight. After Zine got that Evoked Potential Test behind him or whatever it was, he settled down some. We got finished in time to grab us a bit of lunch today!! A little nutrition makes everything better.

Then off we went to Rehabilitation. We didn’t have an actual appt. but we were told to go and check in at the desk and ask if they could work us in. After just one hour of waiting, much to our surprise, they called us back! We saw a doctor of rehabilitation. He explained a lot to us as to why Zine’s walk is not right. It is nice to understand why things work the way they do now. It mainly has to do with a lesion he has in cerebellum. It is causing motor nerve communication problems. So whether we can get his walk any better is still to be determined!
The tightness that he feels all the time, they are going to try to relieve with stretching exercises. So we have an appointment in the morning with a team of physical therapists to instruct and guide him as to how much and what to do. They do not recommend going to gym and working out but stretching exercises along with very mild aerobic exercise is good. Swimming is very good but if you know Zine…that’s not at the top of his list. But the doctor felt certain with the stretching exercises we could probably relieve the stiffness issue and not have to a baclofen pump. Not 100% that he won’t need that but a possible thing that he won’t. The good thing about this appointment is that we will have a plan to take home with us with detailed instructions so a physical therapist at home can reevaluate where he is but will know in great detail what he is to be doing over the course of time! Exactly what we needed!!
The other good thing is that exercise needs to be built back into our schedule. For almost two years now, we have done no exercise!! Neither one of us! So this will mean we will definitely build that back into our schedule. We need to take a long look at when and how to accomplish that but Zine and I both are confident that we are going to give this stretching stuff some dedicated effort to try to get him better.
So we are a bit bummed to not be getting out of here in the morning but are also confident that God has paved the way for these appts. and He will pave the way for our trip home whether that’s tomorrow afternoon or some other day.
We are now anxiously awaiting that 4:15 appt.

kksmith8694

Wife of 20+ years. Mom to 3 children. Love sharing my life with weary hearts so that we can know the One who is Good, who is in Control, and Whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.