Israel PT - Ball exercises

Weekend in Yafo

Ilan went to Yafo, near Tel Aviv, this past Friday-Saturday where he spent time with family, in picture. He was blown away by the beautiful views from their place that was overlooking the harbor and also provided panoramic views of Tel Aviv. The house is surrounded by 3 churches and the sounds of bells were everywhere. Many, many tourists walked by the house.

On Saturday he went to 'Safari' in Ramat Gan, which is a 250 acre preserve with rhinocerus, antelopes, hippopotamus, deer, zebra, etc. running free and giraffe, elephants and lions in caged areas. He sat in the car and drove thru the preserve and later rented a golf cart to go thru other exhibits in the zoo. In the evening he ate falafel in old yafo.

Today Ilan was back for his therapies and he again performed very well.

Thank you again for reading Ilan's blog.

End of one week in Raanana, Israel

Ilan has spent one week in Raanana. The picture shown was taken on the grounds of the Beit Loewenstein Hospital, Raanana.

Ilan started assessments at Beit Loewenstein on Sunday 3/20 which continued through Monday. He receives speech, occupational and physical therapies daily; he will also begin individual and group (psychological) counseling and pool therapy starting next week. In addition, he will also take courses in ceramics and gardening.

The therapists, who are taking Ilan's improvement seriously during his stay with them, are very detailed in their dealings with Ilan and do not miss a single detail, asking very pointed questions that relate to Ilan's therapy. The exercises that they already have him doing are quite intense and advanced (very specific to Ilan's needs) and require Ilan's full concentration, which Ilan has eagerly provided. With Ilan's characteristic flair, he cheers on the other patients in the room on their accomplishments!

Ilan's days (Sun-Thurs) start very early with his first session beginning at 8:15am - he wakes at 7:00am which was impossible to do when he was in Los Angeles - and lasting till 1:30pm with a few breaks in between. Once he gets used to this routine, additional workout sessions will be added to his schedule. Currently, at the end of his daily therapy sessions, Ilan is quite tired and requires a nap.

The cousins that he stays with (2 bus stops from the hospital) are most kind and give him daily rides to and from the hospital. Ilan did get to take the bus one morning and he liked the experience.

Ilan will go tonight to a 2nd wedding this week in Zichron Yaakov and spend Friday and Saturday with other family in Yafo.

At Caesaria Beach in Israel

Hi from Israel!

Ilan is very excited being in Israel and is already over his jet lag as you can see in the pictures below he is already busy charming the girls.

This morning we went for a long walk to a nearby park and Ilan had a brief workout on the exercise equipment there.

In the afternoon we went to the beach and Ilan walked into the the cold water and splashed his cousins!

He starts his therapy tomorrow at Beit Loewenstein in Raanana and we hope to post many photographs/postings of his progress.

From Israel, Ilan and Dad wish Oliver Savage an 'easy' marathon tomorrow and thank him and all of you for your assistance for making possible this additional therapy in Israel.