Confirmed Wiggling

No nauseau today for dad...he was able to go to the gym and start working out! He's even out of the hospital gown and into some athletic shorts and a tee shirt....looks much more like our Pops. His therapist Angie was great with him and really pushes him to work hard. She did a lot of arm exercises with dad today, trying to get an idea of his range of motion. His right arm does pretty well, but it's obvious those muscles have been at rest for a long time. You can see how much work it is for him to just lift his hand to his chest by the grimace on his face. His left arm has very little movement in it, at this point he can shrug the left shoulder but that's really it. This was his very first day of physical therapy, so once his muscles start getting stronger we will hopefully really start to see much more progress. It was just so good to see him starting to get his arms working. He has no control of his fingers in either hand, but he can wiggle them slightly...very slightly in the left hand. In the last four weeks I have never seen anything on his left arm move, and today he was able to very, very slightly wiggle the fingers on the left hand. It was wicked awesome....but you can tell it takes a lot of work for him just to get those few fingers to move a tiny bit....amazing.

In the middle of his session, he stopped to ask if he could wake up very early in the morning to come to the gym to work out on his own...not exactly possible at this point but he sure is determined to get that body going. During one of the arm exercises, he got worn out at the 17th repetition so he stopped. Angie asked him why he stopped and he said he was tired. She told him that it's when those muscles are exhausted that they are getting stronger so he needs to push through the pain...he understood and went right back to doing his reps. Although it is painful for him, I can see the drive in his face...he wants so badly to be moving again...and it will be vital that he keep his determination.

He did see Cole and Paige today, which was great for him. His face lit up and he was just plain excited. If the idea of seeing the grandkids doesn't motivate him...I don't know what will. His good friend Mike dropped off about 40 homemade CD's of their favorite songs from the 60's and 70's...an awesome gift for dad as we just got him little speakers for his room. We were listing some of the songs to him...and he kept nodding...so many of his favorites from back in the day. A sweet gift from an old friend...thanks Mr. Miller.

Today was a great day. Every time I see him, he's a little more himself. I know he'll be ready for more working out tomorrow...we pray he feels strong again in the morning. Another prayer request is that the swelling in his left arm would go down...he has poor blood flow in the left arm so we are hoping now that he's more active it would improve. Keep on praying.

Thank God for great nurses. Thank God for smart therapists. And thank God for wiggling fingers.