Andrew's recovery pt8

At Life Care Center of Littleton, Andrew's therapy team pushed him very hard.  He liked it, he was on a mission to walk.  First steps therapy worked with him so he could transfer himself in and out of his wheelchair and his bed.  The goal was to get Andrew strong enough to stand on his own... and then walk.

The miracle machine was the Alter-G.  This machine allowed Andrew to use the motion of walking without having to bare his body weight on his legs. It had been at least 8 months since Andrew had walked or stood by himself at point in recovery.  The Alter-G was hard to get into at first but it was worth it.  Andrew had to stand (holding on to the sides) by himself for a minute or more while they zipped him into the machine.  The machine would fill with air to take the weight off the body and a treadmill would start underneath his feet.  I thought I had video of Andrew using the Alter-G but I can't find it.  Here is a link to a site that shows what it does.  Alter-g

Andrew also learned that his left leg is now shorter than the right leg by one inch.  At life care they first set up a temporary lift and had shoes made with a lift.  He will have this length discrepancy for the rest of his life and needs all his left shoes lifted.

Soon Andrew was able to use a walker in therapy.  Here is video of his therapy and yes those are our kids running around in the background!

Andrew also learned how to transfer into our car from his chair.  This was fun because I got to take him out to get his haircut and pick him up for his doctor appointments.  We even got to go out for dinner and a movie!  

Walking Part 1

Walking Part 2