New Developments

Strength gains for Kathy are continuing on a weekly if not daily basis. The coolest thing that I have seen in the past week is downward dog, upward dog, childs pose, and some cat cows from table pose. It was very exciting to see Kathy begin to do some of things that brought her tremendous joy prior to GBS.

In addition to these new physical developments Kathy has also continued to develop her independence. Yesterday was Kathy's first fully independent trip outside the house, driving the car and getting into her sister's hair salon for a color and trim. Additionally, today Kathy did some grocery shopping and ran a couple of errands!!

She is still planning on returning to teaching in the fall and is very comfortable that she will be ready to do so.

First trip behind the wheel!!

This was a big one!! Look out for a Blue Jeep Cherokee!

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Friday Pizza Night

Home made pizza courtesy of Kathy. It is great having a wife who loves to cook, and can!!
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Off the walker and on to the Cane!

It is official - as of today Kathy is off the walker and onto the cane only! She got this news today from her PT therapist at Kessler. Progress continues for Kathy everyday. It seems as if it is exponential and progress compounds on progress. We have been really happy about this for the past 3-4 weeks. The next major milestone will be driving the car. This should help her regain a large part of the independence that she has lost. Right now the steering wheel is no problem as the strength and dexterity in Kathy's upper body is very good. Her legs are still lagging behind a bit and she is not able to move from gas pedal to brake (important item!).

Kathy wanted to try the bike on the trainer

She looks good on the bike!!

Kathy pre DMB show

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Update

Kathy's progress is still very consistent. She is making gains in strength and coordination every day. The progress remains very slow in relation to where Kathy would like to be. However, her ability to function on her own inside the home is now almost fully intact. When Kathy initially returned home she needed support with every aspect of life including simply getting out of bed. All of this is now done completely on her own. Out of bed, shower, eating, preparing meals, dressing, shoes and socks etc. Kathy even made me a chicken and asparagus dinner yesterday night. The walker is no longer necessary for moving around the house and in most cases only comes with us in the car. Any walking that Kathy does is still short distances and we typically still use the wheelchair for any extended distances or days away from the house.

Yesterday was a follow up visit to Kathy's inpatient doctor at Kessler. We found this to be a bit underwhelming of a visit. Her doctor felt that she was still making progress and was able to physically measure and show us that progress. However she made a comment that some GBS patients do not always get back 100% of what they lose. This was the first time that we heard this from her (although we have read it in other patients accounts). I think that both Kathy and I understand the reality of what types of deficits GBS could leave a person with. Although, any energy focused in that direction is not positive energy almost as if those types of thoughts are self fulfilling prophecies. I feel as if Kathy is an athlete training for a specific goal, a goal that she will achieve. Right now that goal is resuming normal day to day activities (she is almost there), later in the summer that goal will be resuming a normal work week and returning to teaching. I look forward to supporting her in this and know that she will do what she sets her mind to.