Welcome

Thank you for visiting to check in on Ryan's progress towards recovery. Ryan has always been there for everyone he knows and right now we all hope we can live up to his example by being there for him and his family while he heals. He is strong and we all know that if anyone can come through this it is him.

While Ryan's injuries are serious and frightening, the best thing for us to do is all stay on the same page with accurate information but also all stay positive and look forward to the good news to come. The aim of this site is to reflect the incremental changes in his condition. Also, this should provide a space to express your love and concern for Ryan and his family.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Update, plus another work day at Ryan's

Several folks visited Ryan yesterday, which has become a part of his routine of meals, exercise, traveling around the hospital with his mom in his chair, and basically being a celebrity on his hall among all of the nurses and staff. He is very alert, and continues to communicate more clearly, though much of it still is confusing or garbled, his use of inflection alone suggests clarity of thought. He is establishing a collection of gifts, the centerpiece of course being the near life sized Sadie stuffed animal. While Ryan does experience a tremendous amount of discomfort throughout the day which prompts him to become frustrated, it all seems to be a part of his faculties and strength coming back.

Again, its very important to understand that his improvement will be slow and incremental for many weeks to come. Walking around his floor, you can't help but be hopeful by the constant reminders of how far he has come and how far those who started their rehab before he did have come. In particular, a neighbor of Ryan's clearly had a similar injury as evidenced by his matching head scar, but has been in rehab longer and has made tremendous progress. Seeing those who haven't come as far as Ryan and those who are where Ryan is trying to go is like seeing a cross section of the possibility for progress and each of his floor mates personify a mile marker on Ryan's path to recovery.

We hope to keep pace with Ryan as far as the 'rehab' of his house goes. As posted earlier, the floors and cabinets on the right side of his house are completed and just today the front of the house was painted blue. Another big milestone is that all of the remaining debris left over from when Ryan gutted the house is now out from underneath and in a dumpster ready to be hauled away. Please come out this Saturday to help finish painting the exterior of his house (a color scheme stolen directly from Pal's Lounge, selected by Ryan himself). We will be there from 10a-4p and please email jim@pnola.org to let me know you're coming so I know how many to prepare for. Even if you already know how to get there, please let me know you'll be there.

Even though I don't care for hockey, or Boston, let's all root for the Bruins for Ryan!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday update

Ryan is still receiving several hours of therapy a day at Touro. Progress is slow, but therapy seems to be working. He is even more active and vocal than before. He’s moving his legs more freely, and he spends much of the visits “singing” and trying to put sentences together. Hopefully things will start to click soon, so he can communicate more easily.

There are a couple of small updates to report. Ryan’s feeding tube was removed last week, and he is back to eating and drinking like normal. Also, Sadie, Ryan’s dog, visited the hospital for the first time yesterday. Ryan and Sadie had a good reunion and got to hang out for about an hour.