A positive update on Dynabrass leader, Jeff Mleczko – 11/23/2015

Jeff MleczkoToday, when I went to visit Jeff I took him a little ray of sunshine… Sunshine’s name is, Lorri March Dean and did she ever brighten his day! His eyes lit up when he saw her and he gave her the BIGGEST smile.

Jeff looked good! His color was good, better than I have seen and he was alert. Jeff still has the trach in and the respiratory therapist said today she is hoping it will be removed soon. I keep telling myself, “Be patient!” But while we were there, she capped his trach and LORRI AND I GOT TO HEAR THAT DEEP, Jeff Mleczko VOICE! It was WONDERFUL!

Jeff’s physical therapist, Ingrid, and his occupational therapist, Austin got Jeff out of bed. Jeff needed some assistance sitting up, but once on the side of the bed, he sat unassisted for several minutes. I was happy to see this because it showed me that he had good sitting balance. When the therapists asked him to scoot forward, he did so with minimal help from them. Normally, they would transfer Jeff into the wheel chair using a lift, but this morning he did a two person stand and pivot transfer from bed to the wheel chair. THIS IS AWESOME!

Once down in the therapy room, Jeff walked the distance of the parallel bars. At the end, he began to instinctively start to turn around and then he walked back to the chair at the other end. Once back in the chair, we all jumped for joy (literally) and started cheering (loudly)… and Jeff? Well, he just sat and smiled! Ingrid and Austin said that when they stood him in the parallel bars on Friday, they had to physically move his legs and help him balance. After seeing how he did in the parallel bars today, they backed his wheel chair out and Ingrid sat down in front of him and said, “Jeff, I am going to try something and I DO NOT want you to get discouraged if it doesn’t work. Normally we would not try this so soon, but because of what I just saw you do in the parallel bars, I want to try it.” Jeff nodded his head to show he understood and then Ingrid got a roller walker. Jeff proceeded to stand and with the assistance of the therapist and the walker, he walked some more! He struggled a little more with balance using the walker, but over all he did great… In total, I would say he walked almost 40-50’ today (parallel bars and walker combined)! By this time, I was in tears and hugging and kissing Jeff (Don’t tell Bob! LOL) because I could not believe what I had just witnessed.

I spoke with his therapists for some time after the therapy session. They are very encouraged by the gains that Jeff has shown in the short period of time. They don’t want to give any false hope about what to expect for a final outcome, but they are VERY encouraged. I told them that Jeff has a lot of support from family and friends. I expressed to them that we all stand willing to assist him in this healing journey. They said that this is awesome and will be crucial in determining what happens.

Don’t forget to send your pictures with your name in BIG BOLD RED PRINT at the bottom! (See previous post, or private msg me and I can give you details.)

Today was a GREAT day and once again I am giving THANKS to the man above a few days early! I could not wait to share the news with all of you!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Becky Knieper-Naessens

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