Day 23

Burt’s progress is being reported to you by a guest writer of Team Stern. He had a good day today – being evaluated by OT, PT and speech therapy. He has now been moved to a private room in the rehab unit as his visitors are not known for their ability to whisper.

Burt is speaking more clearly than he has in the past few days. The highlight of his day was learning a few exercises that will help him in his next swallow evaluation – which he is practicing diligently. The exercises produce a slow repetitive “GAH” sound that Team Stern will get used to in no time.

While he is still fairly tired, his spirits are high, and his sense of humor is more honed than ever. He was given a gift of a NY Yankees blanket that was going to be placed in his room, but being in Red Sox country, his response was, “don’t bring it… they’ll kill me.”

He is ever the gentle, kind patient, remembering every nurse’s/therapist’s name and always saying thank you after every swab and pillow fluff. He had a nice visit with an old friend, reminiscing about his 7th grade days as a trumpeter, and talking about the opera. If you have the time, drop by for a visit. Even though he usually asks everyone not to come, he is always happy when they do.

But now the strenuous work begins as he will be scheduled for physical therapy daily, and once again getting to work with his old pal Randy. His niece Wendy continued to patrol his room, raising an eyebrow to all who dared to enter, in the hopes that he could get more than 10 continuous minutes of sleep. He was especially concerned about being woken up by the “vampires” for blood draws, but said, “even vampires need a hobby.”