The road to recovery...again.

Today is 3 days since surgery and I am gushing with pride. Dan has come a long way in just 3 short days. Remember I mentioned in my last post that he couldn't use his left arm or hand and barely lift his leg? Well today during his PT and OT evaluation, he was able to walk 200 feet! Granted he had to use a cane and have someone next to him for support, but he WALKED!! And he is moving his arm up and down too. His hand is more challenging but he is practicing. We know it's not dead so in a matter of time, all his strength will be back. Seriously amazed at his strength in such a short time.

Dan spent the weekend in here recovering while watching TV. Really, that's all he has done the last few days, I mean other than being online too. We knew he wouldn't be going home until he got evaluated by the therapy team because they talked about him possibly going to a rehab facility for a week or so to jump start his therapy and we wouldn't see them until today.

The PT was very pleased with his strength. She got him up out of bed, tested his balance standing, fitted him for a cane, and took him in the hallway to practice and even attempt steps. He did very well and said that since he's 'borderline' meaning he could really benefit from inpatient rehab but as long as he has 24/7 supervision, she would OK him to get discharged to home but she had to wait until the OT eval was done. The OT was also very pleased with all the tests she performed. She tested all of his fine motor skills, mental memory tests (I failed it but he passed, lol!), and more. She did find that his left foot was tight and he has a drop foot or foot drop (can't recall all these terms) which is a weakening of the muscles that enable him to flex so he has to wear a boot that puts his foot in a 90 degree position. It has to be worn to sleep and during the day (4 hrs on/off). That should be fun for him. So basically, both agreed he can go home and immediately begin his outpatient PT and OT again. Whew, one step closer to our family getting back together. We have to wait for the surgeon to give his green light too so crossing fingers it's tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning, Dan has an appointment with his radiation oncology team who we actually already met last week. We had a consult scheduled but due to his unexpected hospitalization, they came to his room to do it. Dr. Kleinberg is a radiation oncology expert at the Kimmel Cancer Center here and he specializes in brain tumors and specifically glioblastomas. He came to see Dan on Wednesday of last week which was a really bad day for Dan but I was able to meet with him and his fellow to go over what is expected, side affects, etc. So tomorrow at 9 am Dan will have his 'simulation' appointment and get fitted for a radiation mask. The mask is made of a plastic material and helps position the head when treating the brain during radiation. I believe they said he will get a CT and MRI tomorrow too that are used for treatment planning. Than a team of doctors and super smart physicists get together and simulate his treatment. The simulation takes a week and than Dan is able to begin treatment - which will probably be in about a week and a half.

We are also supposed to meet with the chemo team but they won't meet with him while he's inpatient so it will be delayed a week due to the holiday. We did have a short consult with them on Thursday of last week too and again, his team leading with Dr. Holdhoff is an expert in malignant gliomas.

So that's all I got for now. Dan wanted me to let everyone know that he is doing great!