Obvious FYI: I don't own anything that even remotely has to do with The O.C.!
Thank you so much for reviewing!
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ATWOOD AT LARGE
Where Seth and Luke get an A and We Tell You About Ryan's Day
May 29
Hindsight
So, fellow bloggers, we come to you with a heavy heart as we admit that this is our last posting of Atwood at Large, as our final write-up on this project is due Monday. It has been an awesome experience not just for us, but for Ryan as well. We are convinced that your support has catapulted his recovery and we cannot thank you enough! We have 589.57 hits each day! The only thing that can top this would be an A on this assignment…
We decided to conclude our excellent adventure with a 'before and after' comparison to prove how much Ryan has progressed and exceeded all of the doctors' and therapists' expectations.
In chronological order:
1. Before—When Ryan left St. Francis General Hospital for St. Francis Rehabilitation Hospital, he couldn't talk.
After—Ryan talks more than he ever did since moving to Newport last August. He speaks in full, clever, and normal sentences. His stutter is gone and if any grammatical issues occur (which isn't often), they happen only when he is tired.
2. Before—Ryan didn't have a blog, and the whole world was clueless to Ryan's progress.
After—We came along and shocked the blogging community with our innate sense of website design and our luckily-competent information gatherers and guest bloggers.
3. Before—Ryan's right hand was so bent and his fingers so curled that it hurt him to stretch them.
After—After wearing a brace for four months, his grip strength has dramatically increased, and although his fingers are still slightly curled, he can now pick up objects better than expected.
4. Before—Ryan was in a wheelchair for a while and barely had enough energy to sit up alone, but left Italy using a walker after finally re-learning how to stand.
After—Ryan now uses a cane, but only for balance. You can't even tell it's there he moves so well! The doctor he sees in Newport wants to get him to walk without it in the near future!
5. Before—Ryan struggled with word association, mixing up nouns with adjectives.
After—His cognition has drastically improved and he, like any normal teenager, will associate some situations with Kirsten-disapproved words.
6. Before—At St. Francis, Ryan's handwriting was worse than a three year-old's.
After—His writing is like a four year-old's. Just kidding. His handwriting is debatably more legible than before the accident.
7. Before—He had big issues with short-term memory.
After—It is rare how that he forgets what he is doing, what he just did, or what he is saying. If it happens, he just sits down and collects himself like the therapists taught him and he's back in business!
So as you can tell, Ryan has come so many miles on his journey to recovery. We can't say this enough, but we still think the surprise party we threw for him when he finally returned to Newport for good helped so much as well. He was finally able to see how many people read the blog and how much they truly cared for him. The signs on the highway exit also surprised him and we were so happy that he received the attention so well.
As you remember, he returned to school last month and has done great since then. The tutor is going to stay with him for the rest of the year and then in the fall he's going to try Harbor alone. But, we all know that he will never truly fly solo. After all, every King needs an entourage.
As our final thought, we want you to click below to see the awesome collage of photos Adam Lindsay made for us. He used his computer graphic skills (we're so happy for him that he still remembers) to put together all of the images we put up on this site since the garden scenes in January in Italy. It looks great! Thanks, man!
---Click Here For the Photo---
So for the last time, this is Cohen and Ward, signing out.
Posted By: Seth and Luke at 7:33 PM---Click to comment---Links to this post---
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So that's it! Thanks again for reading! Like I said in my other story, I'm a PT student, and much of this story is what I've read, learned, and seen first hand, including the stethoscope scene in Chapter 5. Thanks again!