Update: 9:30pm on 2/15

Forrest had a grueling trek from the gym back to his room on the walker assisted by two physical therapists today. The extended period of "altitude" he experienced being upright seemed to make him a little dizzy and he struggled with the weight and bulk of the casts. But they are pushing him harder this week. He moved right from the walker to a "roadster style" chair that allows him to shuffle his feet along while he turns the wheels with his own arms. More important steps toward independent movement! He was spent after an 2 hours of therapy and had a hard time with lunch. It is not unusual for ABI patients to struggle with swallowing and with keeping food down.

Austin went with Forrest for a 3-dimensional cat scan of his skull this afternoon. They taped Forrest's poor head to the table causing him understandable distress. He actually whispered to Austin," take it off." Once they repositioned the tape and made it more bearable, he gave his brother a double tap on the shoulder and proceeded to be a real champ for the rest of the procedure. The 3-dimensional CT will be used to create a model of Forrest's skull in preparation for this next surgery, which is tentatively scheduled in 3 weeks. He did better eating tonight due to a little healthy sibling rivalry. He was bored with eating pudding by himself so when Dad handed him yet ANOTHER spoon of pudding he passed it on to Austin. Austin declined to share his spoon, but took a fork and dipped it into Forrest's pudding. They eyed each other over the unappetizing pudding and Forrest whispered "1…2…3…"

Proud of both our boys' accomplishments today,

Mum

The race is on!

Forrest walking