Moved to Touro!

Ryan was moved to Touro today to begin rehab! For those of you in New Orleans or planning to visit soon, he is on the 6th floor of the rehabilitation center - section M, room 627. He will be working with physical, cognitive, occupational and speech therapists. The therapists will be working with him for most of the day with friends and family visiting hours from 4:30 to 8:30pm. Touro is a very good rehab facility with a great reputation. We are all very encouraged and excited about this move.

The nurses at Touro take a different approach on medications as they want him to be awake/alert as much as possible. They have told us that they will only give him medications if absolutely necessary. He was only on anti-itch meds this evening and was very alert. He was smiling and laughing a bit during our visit tonight. With the new valve inserted in his throat, he is able to speak a little. He can only say a word or two with the tracheotomy, but you can tell that he is trying to say more and would say more if he could. We asked him tonight if he recognized us and he would say yes, nod his head and give a facial expression as if he was thinking "of course I do."

This is a big step in his recovery process. Please continue to keep Ryan in your thoughts and prayers. Also, please make an effort to come visit him at Touro if you're in New Orleans. He has made a lot of progress and needs the support of his friends to give him comfort during his recovery.

Ryan to Begin Rehab

Ryan was moved from the ICU to a different part of University Hospital while waiting for a space to open up at Touro so that he could begin his rehab. While in this interim room, his condition continued to improve as he has been even more alert and, with the addition of a new valve in his air tube, is actually able to speak. He was able to identify "mom" two days ago, and continues to laugh at the occasional situation. He does get frustrated because his head is very itchy but because the pieces of his skull have not been put back in he cannot touch his head.

He is scheduled to be moved to Touro today and will begin rehab immediately. He will be working with a physical therapist and an occupational therapist to simultaneously work to strengthen his body and mind. He is ready to come off of the breathing tube very soon which is an important step in his ability to jump right into rehab.

Work is set to begin again at his house next week. Anyone who is in New Orleans is invited to come help do some work at the house Sunday May 22nd and next Saturday May 28th. It will mainly be painting the exterior and cleaning up construction debris around the yard, two things that Ryan was going to do himself to save cost and therefore do not fit inside of his construction budget. Both can be completed easily with the help of dozen of Ryan's friends! Please contact jim@pnola.org if you are interested. In true Memorial Day Weekend style, we will make it a work day/cook-out combo on the 28th.

Please continue to check back in for updates as Ryan continues to recover.

Weekend

Ryan is still in the ICU. They are hoping to move him to a different floor in LSU University Hospital any day. He will move over to Touro and begin rehab once a space opens up. We're hoping it will be this week, but there are no guarantees. He continues to make small improvements each day. He smiles frequently when we speak to him and will nod his head when we ask him questions such as "do you recognize us?" He is unable to talk because of the tracheotomy but will sometimes mouth words and make small sounds. While there's not too much to report these days, we will continue to post updates, even if it's just status quo.

His parents were able to return to Boston for a few days last week. They are back in town now and a little more prepared for the fast-approaching summer heat. They have been enjoying New Orleans restaurants and are settling in well.