{Karlton Bontrager}

Yesterday Karlton had physio in the afternoon because of the meeting in the morning, and the PT noticed a big difference in his energy level. He was definitely fatigued and did not perform at his best, so we decided it would better to have physio in the morning. I had asked at the meeting if Karlton could have a regular schedule that he could follow, and all agreed it might be beneficial for Karlton.

Karlton had been complaining and some staff members have agreed that “Wakari” time is unpredictable. When someone says, “I’ll be there in five minutes”, it can be five minutes, thirty minutes, several hours, or the following day. There was one day when we waited and waited ALL MORNING and JUST ABOUT all AFTERNOON for a staff member to come get Karlton for a session. So now I wrote up a large sized schedule which is up on the wall on Karlton’s room, and hopefully, he can follow everyday.

During physio, his shoulder and arm muscles were stretched and exercised. He had to try to control and hold up his wrist and hand and then try to raise them to his face. He also practiced turning onto his right side while holding onto his upper left arm so as not to hurt his left shoulder. Then he sat at a table with a pen under his left fingers and tried to move it in all directions – pushing and then pulling it with his arm and shoulder muscles.

Karlton will be riding an exercise bike everyday in the afternoon to strengthen his leg muscles. He is willing and eager to get this going, so I hope the written schedule will hold. He then worked with a speech therapist for thirty minutes. Later, he walked outside around the grounds with an assistant in the late afternoon, so he had an active day.