Sunday, March 4, 2012

PT Evaluation and a note about how awesome my brother is

Busy week around the Leyba household...which continues into today.  I'll have to keep this relatively short, because we've got a birthday party to get ready for!  Our little girl will be two on Wednesday and we're celebrating today with some of her friends.  Should be lots of fun.  We're having the party at Gymboree...I'm exceedingly grateful that places like this exist, because, quite honestly, the thought of having 10 two year olds in our house in more than a little terrifying :)

So, back to our week.  Jason went back to Santa Clara Valley Med on Wednesday to get his PT evaluation for KAFOs (Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthotic...aka leg braces).  His doctor signed off on the braces at his last visit, so the point of this appointment was to make sure that he had the strength, flexibility, and movement that the braces would require.  We were a little nervous about this visit, because, as a T4 injury, Jason was not the typical KAFO patient.  Most PTs won't even consider someone for these unless they are a T10 injury or lower.  Thankfully, Karen (J's PT) was willing to let Jason try to hit the necessary goals for the braces.  In order to get approved, he needed to:  be able to do 50 dips, wheel himself a mile in less than 20 minutes, have little to no spasticity in his legs, full range of movement in the hips, and a "+2" movement in his hip flexors (meaning he could move his hips, essentially while lying on his side).  The strength factors were easy enough to meet-he's been working out a lot (he's got ridiculous upper body strength).  Honestly, we were most worried about the hip movement.  He was able to do the +2 movement, but the range of motion and spasticity requirements caused some problems, because his legs were acting up a bit that day.  He's been trying to reduce the meds he's on for spasticity, which had been going pretty well so far.  On Wednesday, though, the legs were NOT cooperative.  Thankfully, Karen took J's word that this was an abnormality and approved him for the KAFOs :)  Now we just have to wait on the paperwork and insurance approval before Jason goes back to get fitted by the orthotics folks.  That'll be another few week wait.

Wednesday was actually a busy, crazy day for us.  We had J's evaluation at the hospital, which came just a few hours after having to essentially be evacuated from our apartment due to a gas spill in the garage (someone tried to siphon gas out of people's cars and spilled gas EVERYWHERE).  It's not fun to wake up to the very strong, and very distinct, smell of gasoline...

Then, my dad called and told my my brother, Bo, had been in Branson, MO when the first of a string of tornados touched down.  Bo was sleeping was awakened by the window and wall behind him being ripped out.  Very soon after that, an air conditioning unit fell on top of him.  This turned out to be a good thing, as it held him down while the tornado sucked everything else out of the room (all his clothes, his phone, his keys, etc).  He was badly cut up from all of this, with the biggest damage being done to his ear.  He was able to crawl out from the a/c unit and, instead of just getting out, he, his boss (he was on a business trip), and another young couple they came across went door-to-door getting people out of the hotel.  At one point, he had to kick a door in to rescue an elderly couple (he did this barefoot and in his boxers...quite the action hero).  Everyone got out and he was eventually taken to the hospital where he was stitched up.  A local news reporter covered the story of the young couple (they were on their honeymoon) and Bo is mentioned in it.  You can find it here: http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-young-couple-rescued-branson-hotel-guests-during-tornado-20120229,0,3966434.story  He's the Marine they reference, and can be seen in the video at about the one minute mark (he's the one covered in blood).  It goes without saying that I'm extremely happy he's safe and very proud of him.

I hope your weeks were less eventful!

Love you all,

Ashley

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