Before we get to the longer update, a quick note on visiting, especially if you’re coming in tonight. There are certain nights when Kevin finishes therapy later, and then needs a bit more time before he can see visitors. Tonight is one of those nights. You can still come in earlier, but just know that you may not be able to see him until 6:00 p.m. or so. Thanks for understanding.

Rehab update

In physical therapy, Kevin has been doing a lot of education so he’s aware of the complications he may face, how to direct his care, and how to instruct others on the best way to meet his needs.

In occupational therapy, Kevin will start focusing on self-care skills, how to direct others to help him with those. This week they’ll start testing out different types of power wheelchairs, assessing how he’s able to function with them to make sure Kevin gets the best fit moving forward. They’ll continue to move forward with different assistive technologies so that Kevin can practice and get better using them.

Next steps/timeline

Yesterday’s meeting with Kevin’s team went well. At that meeting, we found out a few things:

His stay at Magee will probably be seven more weeks. That’s a little bit longer than we initially anticipated, but it gives him more time for therapy.

Kevin also saw his orthopedic surgeon at Jefferson His neck is stable, but will need to be in a collar for the next two weeks. At that time, Kevin will be able to do more range of motion therapy on his neck.

In terms of Kevin’s voice, his speech pathologist and respiratory therapist are training him how to speak in rhythm with the ventilator. Right now, Kevin’s doctors believe he will be ventilator-dependent long-term, so this therapy will be really important going forward. At times, working with the respiratory therapist, Kevin has been able to vocalize for short periods of time.

Events/support

First, if you’re interested in attending the event at Barnaby’s on the 4th, we are setting up a website where you can buy tickets. That should be available soon.

We met with Kevin’s attorneys on Thursday, so we hope to have the fund for Kevin set up within the next week or so. At that point, it will be easier for us to start up different mechanisms to support Kevin. We appreciate your patience and continued interest in helping Kevin and our family.

Over the next week or so, we’ll also have a better sense of the modifications we’ll need to do to the house and the type of van we’ll need to get. That’ll be a big event, so we’ll keep you posted on that too.