Thursday, December 4

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful--my sister, Trudy, was in charge of the turkey and stuffing (fabulous) and my brother, Marsh, provided back-up help. During the course of the holiday weekend, Tommy got to say hi to lots of family and friends, including both his sisters and both his kids. Over the past week, Tommy's home therapists have been discharging him from their care, with the recommendation that, after a week or two of rest, he continue therapy as an outpatient. Meanwhile, Tommy now has a daily exercise regimen--swallowing and tongue-strengthening exercises that were written down by the speech pathologist, arm and hand exercises written down by the occupational therapist, and five minutes each of pedal-exercising and walker practice. The last couple of days we've had fun with Tommy's old Erector set (his mom gave it to him for Christmas), which I dug out of the bedroom closet; right now, we're putting together the traveling jib crane (see photo).