{Karlton Bontrager}

In their most recent telephone conversations, Jennifer and Alexa have given me feedback that my explanations have not been altogether clear. First of all, Karlton is not sitting or standing entirely on his own. He manages these accomplishments with the assistance of three physiotherapists (PTs) who are there to support, anchor, and lift him as needed. When he sits alone on the side of the bed and dangles his feet, a PT sits behind him on the bed, ready to catch him should he fall backwards. Another PT is at each foot. When he initiated standing the other day, he merely leaned forward and attempted to straighten out his legs. The PTs were lifting him as well and controlling his balance. Because he is unable to move his left side at will, one PT stations herself in front of his knee is such a way that it can’t buckle and send him falling to the floor. When they put him in the standing apparatus, they also secured various straps to hold him in that position to relieve the stress on their own backs.

Another concern was about the operation he had yesterday. I mentioned that the bones around the eye socket are like “a broken bag of biscuits.” That typifies the bones in the cheek area as well. The doctor discussed the eye because of its proximity to the surgical site and the potential for the work to affect the eye. But their work was specifically to reconstruct the cheek and to create a wall between the nasal sinus and the brain. They did not work on the eye or the eye socket.