Movin' On Up!

Barring any last minute change in plans, Patti will be transferred from the Zale-Lipshy Hospital to the Centre for Neuro Skills (CNS), a brain injury rehabilitation center, in Irving, Texas. There are several reasons for this:
1. The hospital only does "acute" rehabilitation and Patti has progressed past that point. (By the way, this hospital has been all it is advertised to be. The care has been wonderful all around and the staff has been terrific!)
2. They are better equipped in every area to continue Patti's progress, especially in speech and educational therapy.
3. Patti will enjoy a change of scenery and routine at this point.

Once Patti arrives, she will move into a two bedroom apartment where she will live for the next several weeks. She will have a roommate (female, of course) and a Nurse Assistant (NA), also female, will be present at the apartment 24/7. She is currently receiving three hours of therapy a day at the hospital. At the center her "work day" will immediately move up to four hours with a goal to get to six hours as soon as she can handle it. They will continue with the physical recovery and strengthening work, speech and occupational therapy and will work with her on overall body reconditioning, regaining computer and working skills, regaining driving skills, and generally redeveloping all of the life skills she needs to function independently, return to work and return to life. The NA will assist in evaluating and helping Patti with everything that goes on in a home environment including cooking, shopping, cleaning, telephone skills, budgeting, dressing, etc. So her rehab will actually continue after her scheduled sessions when she returns to her apartment. All in all, it is very intensive.

They also schedule activities such as dining out, grocery shopping, mall shopping, entertainment events and others to re-orient her back to the day-to-day world. I will make sure she starts getting back to church soon, too. Church on TV jist ain't all it's cracked up to be, but it sure is nice to have when you need it!

I toured the rehab facility and it is very state of the art. I met a lot of wonderful people and I am sure she will receive the absolute best care possible. I will still get to spend a lot of time with her and, best of all, will be able to check her out frequently for dinner, movies or whatever else we want to do. Visiting is encouraged, but is limited to after 5PM on weekdays. Weekends are pretty flexible, but at this facility it would be a good idea to call ahead and let us know you're coming! You can learn more than you would ever need to know by visiting the website for CNS at www.neuroskills.com. I will publish mail and phone information in the next couple of days when I have it and know it is accurate. So please come back for that important information!

I've been asked why Dallas and not back in Louisiana. For those of you wondering, I am able to work in Dallas without having to travel for the time being. As soon as we return to West Monroe, I will need to start traveling again and we just aren't ready for that yet, as you can imagine.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for an easy transition for Patti and a short adjustment period .
2. Pray for physical strength and renewal as she extends her therapy hours and intensity.

Mike