"Nothing short of amazing..."

And the quote of the day is... "nothing short of amazing." As in, John's new neurologist's response when John walked for him.* Today, he went in for a check-up of the bone graft/fusion in his spine from the original surgery (and the bony fusion is great) and to get established with a neurologist here in South Bend (since the doctor he'd seen at Northwestern is out of network). So seeing a new doctor of course means telling the story again, and while reliving it is difficult, the affirmation we get each time that we explain to a doctor where John was on July 31, and they assess where he is now is heartening beyond words.

*Edit: John reminded me that he also called it "spectacular"!

And yet again, we have another great doctor. He was very personable, and we felt comfortable with him immediately. The transfer of care can be a little sticky sometimes, but he talked to us right away about the role he sees for himself, steeping in at this point. He's here to be John's cheerleader, to encourage him in the rehab, and to give him a tough love reminder if he needs it of just how far he's come. He's optimistic that John will continue to recover, and he warned us that there will be frustrating moments ahead when John tries to do something he used to be able to do and it won't be as easy/he'll have to do it differently. Because John's made so much progress in the big picture recovery, these little things will be more evident (all things considered, a very good problem to have).

He wants to see John in 3 months and check the graft again then. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a February visit into Chicago to see the physiatrist to check in on how rehab is progressing and a March visit to the neurologist here in South Bend to check on the surgical fusion and address any issues that might arise.