Farmer Alan Update

After 18 days in the hospital from the effects of Guillain Barre syndrome (plus 1 if you count the first ER visit the day before he lost all the strength in his limbs), Dad has now completed his first week at the rehabilitation hospital, making 27 days since our lives did some serious gear shifting. He is doing 3 hours of therapy every weekday now, and the past couple days the therapists have assisted him in getting up on his legs. His hands and arms are noticeably stronger and gaining more control and dexterity, but his legs haven't gotten quite as much strength back yet. He's working at it though!

This week he was able to get into a motorized wheelchair, which has given him a lot more freedom since he can now zip around the hallways and even outside a bit until his legs start supporting him! When Mom, my brother and sister-in-law arrived a couple days ago to visit they were surprised to find him waiting for them out on the sidewalk! I was able to go with them yesterday and he was there again, excited to see us and tell us what he had accomplished in therapy that day.

Farmer Alan the dairy farmer has been missing his raw milk and butter the last several weeks, so we took him some milk in a thermos and a bit of butter for his bread yesterday. He was ready for a swig before we even got back in the building! His ecstatic response after the first couple gulps was, "How sweet it is!"

The doctors and therapists have given a timeline with a target release date of October 21. Dad is determined to work hard and see if he can shorten that window! And we are hoping he is successful in achieving that goal, because it sure will be great to have him home again!

In the meantime, he does enjoy having visitors in between his therapy sessions, so if you'd like to brighten his day with a visit, contact us for details on how to make that happen :)