First days at rehab

Hi everyone, I'm sure you are all waiting to hear what happened with Charb and the rehab saga this past week...

He was admitted Friday and spent most of the day getting settled. He is in a room with 4 other people who all seem really nice, and can tell the nurses if he is calling for anything at night. All of the nurses and staff who had seen Charbel at the rehab center last year were surprised and truly amazed that he is doing as well as he is. Friday night, mom brought Charb home and he spent the weekend with us. We took him back on Sunday night. That was his first night at rehab, and according to the nurses and his roommates, he slept really well, which is always good to hear.

Monday and Tuesday he met with the physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and others. They are in the process of working out a program for him. Meanwhile, he has done well with the PT and speech so far. We are determined that his program should be extensive in order provide him with best chance at a full recovery.

Charb has also undergone a series of tests this week. On Monday he took the swallow test. In this test they use and x-ray and dye while he is eating and drinking to make sure that the food is going down the right way. They found that while eating soft/pureed food he had no problem. Unfortunately, while drinking juice/water some of the liquid was going into the airways and possibly into his lungs. So he is no longer allowed to have regular liquids, only thickened juice and water. They will be working with him on proper swallowing over the coming weeks so that he will be able to drink all liquids eventually. At least he can still eat, imagine telling him that he's not allowed to have food!

Charb had an ultrasound to check his kidneys. He also had an x-ray done on his left shoulder and knee, both of which really bother him. We haven't yet received the results from the doctors.