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Ryan slept very late the next day and was barely awake for his first OT session. It was a painful day for Ryan as the OT's stretched his right hand. The first PT session of the day was filled with standing and balance exercises which made Ryan's whole body ache. In speech therapy, they were getting him to repeat three-word sentences.

After lunch, Kirsten pushed Ryan in the wheelchair around the beautiful grounds of St. Francis. Although it was January, the day was abnormally warm and the campus of the rehab center was filled with patients and their families.

"Ryan, I want to talk to you about something. Are you with me?" Kirsten began as she sat on a snow-free bench. Ryan nodded. "I talked to Seth last night and he and Luke have a project they need to do for school. You remember Luke, right?" Kirsten continued seeing Ryan's nod. "Well they want to make a blog online that updates your progress, how much better you are getting and let people know how well you are doing. What do you think of that?" Suddenly realizing, Kirsten re-phrased her question. "Would that be ok with you?"

Ryan stared for a moment at Kirsten then leaned his head back against the headrest on the wheelchair and closed his eyes. The nurses had given him sunglasses to wear outside because the bright sunlight further irritated Ryan's abnormal vision. They didn't want him panicking anymore.

"Yesss. Readdd?" Ryan finally said as he opened his eyes and turned to Kirsten.

"Who will read it? Well, anyone, I suppose. The same thing happened to a friend of your roommate's son, you know. Megan told me. Everyone really liked it and it helped the friend get better. Does that sound good?"

"Okkk. Whyyy?"

"Why do they want to make the blog? Well they want to update everyone on your progress. You have a lot of people thinking about you, you know. Readers can respond to topics that Seth and Luke write about, too. I will read you what they say. Does that sound alright?"

Ryan nodded and closed his eyes again.

"Lets get you back inside. You have PT again in an hour," Kirsten said kindly as she pushed Ryan around the frozen pond one more time and back to his room.

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"Alright, Ryan, I promise this round will be shorter than this morning's, ok?" the physical therapist asked her patient through yet another translator. Ryan was getting used to the two languages. Kirsten had to explain to him on multiple occasions what was happening with the two voices, but by now Ryan seemed to understand the English.

"Okkk," Ryan answered.

"Do you remember what we worked on this morning?" the therapist spoke again. Ryan said nothing. "Ryan did we do some standing exercises today?" Nothing. "Ryan do you remember coming to see me a few hours ago? I gave you my pencil that you like so much. You used it later in OT. Do you remember that?"

"Yesss," Ryan said at length. "Writtte."

"Ok, I'm glad at least you remember my pencil," the therapist said with a smile. "Well you did great this morning, so lets do even better now, sound good?"

Ryan nodded. "Gooddd. Blogg."

Kirsten smiled. She had already told anyone who would listen about Seth and Luke's idea. Everyone was behind it, saying they would read and post on the blog as well.

"Oh, yes, Ryan. Your brother better put this on the blog," the therapist said as she smiled. "Now lets get working so we can get you home sooner. You're well on your way."

"You're doing great, Ryan. Remember how the doctor said you probably would be ready to go home earlier than they thought? Well you've got to prove to them. I'll be right over here," Kirsten encouraged, pointing to a chair against the wall right behind them where she took a seat and watched.

"Ok, Ryan we're going to stand up again. My friend Marco is going to help us, ok?" the translator spoke for the PT as her colleague came over.

"I've got your favorite safety belt, Ryan. Remember this?" Marco held up a large plastic belt with a grip on the back for the PT's to hold onto Ryan.

Once everything was settled, the PT's began more standing exercises. Because of the damage to Ryan's inner ear, his balance was significantly impaired and he wobbled to the left often. However by now, he was learning how to compensate. The more he practiced, the more his body adapted.

After two well-done sets of ten sit-to-stand exercises, the team moved over to the parallel bars.

"Alright, Ryan I want you to stand and hold on, ok? I've got you in the front and Marco's got you in the back, alright?" the PT motioned to the parallel bars where Ryan would grip. Marco had to help Ryan grasp the bar with his right hand at first but it was all Ryan after that.

After standing for thirty seconds, the PT's let Ryan sit down in a chair right behind him in the bars. Ryan stood holding on four more times and was able to right himself when he would list to the left, the most important thing the PT's wanted to accomplish. Although he was exhausted, Ryan was well on his way.

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ATWOOD AT LARGE

Where Seth and Luke get an A and We Tell You About Ryan's Day

January 8

Update One

So, cyber viewers, as you can tell, this is day one of Seth and Luke's group project/Ryan Atwood's injury blog. If you are new to our lovely idea, Ryan Atwood is a high school student from California who is still recovering in Venice, Italy from a serious head injury. The two attractive co-authors of this site are Seth Cohen (Ryan's foster brother) and Luke Ward (Ryan's teammate and friend). Not only will this blog help us pass Computer Concepts, it will serve as an updater on Ryan's recovery. Sound like a plan? We think so.

Yesterday, according to Kirsten Cohen, who is with our beloved patient at St. Francis Rehab hospital, is Seth's mom, and is the source of all of our information, Ryan had a very good day.

--In speech therapy they were getting him to repeat little phrases. They say that he understands everything people are saying to him, but getting him to elaborate on answers is the problem. He still has issues with intangible concepts (i.e. talking about people who aren't in the room at the time) but he is getting much better. Story of his life.

--In occupational therapy (OT, for those of the non-rehab-speaking world, is where smaller, more fine motor skills are worked on), Ryan started to write with a pencil. In our opinion, it would have been quite comical, in a supportive way, to watch Ryan write his name. He's right handed, and he has a hard time using it now because of the injury, so when they finally got him to hold the pencil, apparently a three year old could write better. Oh well. The more he writes, the more legible it becomes. He is also now St. Francis's most accomplished plastic ring stacker. It's great news! (For real, we mean it).

--Finally, in physical therapy, they got him to stand on his own and hold onto the parallel bars. Because of where he fractured his skull, his inner ear is damaged which is a main controller of balance. Combine that with limited vision in his left eye, you have wobbling Ryan at your service. But, our favorite injured American is learning to correct himself when he leans to one side which according to the doctors and therapists will make him come home sooner. He's getting much better quicker than they thought!

So that is our first update, more to come soon. This is installment one, connecting Ryan to Harbor Academy and vice versa. Ryan is lucky to have improved as much as he has these past two weeks and in our opinion, he's lucky to have all those young, Italian nurses fawning over him…

Keep on getting better, Ryan and we'll see you soon!!

Until next time, this is Cohen and Ward, signing out.

Posted By: Seth and Luke at 4:42 PM---Click to comment---Links to this post---