Here is a picture of Daddy standing (with helpers at the ready), and one of cousin Mike, Daddy, and older brother Chuck (left to right). Mike was able to drive up from Ohio for the day. You can see the shoulder strap of Daddy's VAD bag. He's only got 12-18" of slack in the "drive line" from where it exits his body, so it'll be staying close. And while they call it a drive line, it's really just for power and control signals, not anything like a drive shaft.
The next big thing will be a medical and insurance/financial decision on which rehab program he will go to. Building on what Jenny said, there is an inpatient rehab program that has a close relationship to the Artificial Heart & Lung program at UPMC, which is taking care of him now. This is the 1-3 week "boot camp"-type rehab program with 3 hours/day of physical therapy and occupational therapy. The difference between PT and OT is that PT focuses on strength and range of motion, while OT focuses more on tasks (getting dressed, bathing, weed whacking, splitting logs...just kidding). I remember also hearing that if he mentioned that he had stairs, they would work that in to his training schedule. The other option is skilled nursing which would be 2 hours/day for 1-2 months. Justifications for the boot camp program are that Daddy wants to live alone (meaning that he is motivated to do the intensive program) and that he has a specialized situation requiring access to VAD-trained staff. Going with skilled nursing could be an intermediate step to boot camp as well.
So, next week we'll see what the medical recommendation is after everyone has had a chance to talk it to death, and then what the VA will cover.
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