Recovery: Stage 2

On the morning of July 7 I arrived to see a big grin on Dom’s face…he told me he stood up to get into the wheelchair – he didn’t need to be hoisted!  He was ecstatic!  I was so proud of him! I spoke with Rosy (physio) later that afternoon, she asked me what I had fed Dom over the weekend because she couldn't believe the change in his mobility compared to her visit with Dom on Friday.  She said it was amazing and they would see if he would be able to walk tomorrow!

On July 8 Rosy came with another physio and they got Dom up and walking!  It was amazing!  He needed assistance but he could walk!  I was so proud of him and happy for him I had to take a photo! 

The smiles say it all!

July 10: Dom said farewell to RMH Stroke Ward and was transferred by ambulance to the Rehabilitation Ward at the Sunshine Hospital.  Dom settled in and was looking forward to the next part of his rehabilitation – we started talking about the next stage as rehab, not recovery.  Recovery made us think he was sick…we wanted to be more positive so we focused on rehab to get him home!  We were talking about the best-case scenario being one week in rehab, but didn’t want to get our hopes up, so we kept talking like it would be one month. 

Dom was assessed by the Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Physio and Neuropsychologist on July 11.  They all put a timetable in place for the following week and Dom had the weekend to settle in.  He persisted with his own exercises that he could do while lying in bed and walked around the ward on the weekend with me assisting him.  I returned to work for the start of Term 3 on July 14 and arrived at rehab to visit Dom at 1pm.  We went down stairs to the cafeteria and when we returned to the rehab ward we were told Dom would be coming home on Thursday!  Exactly one week after arriving in rehab!  We couldn’t believe it!  It was the best news we could have hoped for. Dom now had something more immediate to aim for and work towards.  He put so much energy into all of the different sessions while he was in rehab so he could be in the best possible shape when he got to come home.