A couple of more updates to report from this weekend and today. Therapy still takes up most of his weekdays. For the first time, doctors held him up and assisted him through basic walking motions. Although Ryan can’t stand or support himself yet, the doctors are hoping that this therapy will help him regain movement in the future.
Since having his trach tube removed, Ryan almost immediately started swallowing and drinking. Late last week he started eating solid foods for the first time. According to his nurses, Ryan has quite the appetite and puts down a couple of servings of food at a time. Now that Ryan is eating again, the doctors plan to remove his PEG tube sometime today.
Ryan is able to speak, but he still only says a few words at a time. He is working with a speech therapist daily, and will occasionally put together sentences. With time, he should be able to say more.
For those of you in town or planning to visit him soon, he was moved down the hall to room 622 yesterday. Please continue to visit him. It is important at this stage that he is often exposed to familiar faces.
Good afternoon,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Meredith and I know Ryan because we watch sports together on occasion. I'm also from Massachusetts and we met watching the Red Sox in the playoffs a few years ago.
I don't have many connections to Ryan's other friends and family, so I just heard about his accident last week. Our friend Caitlin and I went to visit Ryan Sunday evening. It was so good to see him. He seemed to agree with me that the Bruins really need to step up their game!!
In any case, I plan to continue to visit Ryan, and I hope to help with his recovery in any way that I am able. If you're a family member or a good friend of Ryan's, please please get in touch with me at meredith.grabek@gmail.com.
I hope to meet you all soon as Ryan continues to recover and get well!
Cheers,
Meredith