Friday, November 16, 2007

9:46 PM PST

This was another exciting day! First of all, David slept for 4 hours last night!

Another great part of the day was that I got a kiss from David, and so willingly. I don't know if he is forgetting that he never liked to give kisses, or that he actually really appreciates us now!!! The articles we have been reading say that after a brain injury, the person's personality will change. What a great change! I'm wondering if his colorblindness will be corrected too!!!? After the kiss, he was very tired and started to take a nap. Unlike Sleeping Beauty! Whoops, he should have done that last night, because in comes the respiratory therapist. I thought David was going to crawl out of the bed. He did kick the guy when he turned around! But, Joe continued his job and laughed at David and said he would have to watch his foot. He suctioned his lungs and made him cough. Now you see why Joe isn't David's favorite person! The stuff he is sucking out isn't as thick; so the warm, moist air and treatments have been working.

Next, several of the doctors came in to see if we had any questions. I mentioned that David's right eye looked slightly red, and they agreed to have the opthomologist come back to check it. We still hadn't heard what the results were from the test on Thursday. His eyes are looking closer to the same size in dilation too! Dr. Mc Donald agreed. Through more/different drugs they are going to try to relieve the spasticity in the left arm. This is very frustrating, because we were able to do some range of motion with his elbow, shoulder, wrist, and fingers in D.C. . Now, they resist much of the movement we could do becuase he was so relaxed when he would sleep. Of course we don't want him drugged up anymore, so...???? We tried to show the drs. how David can use the board to answer yes and no questions, but he was too tired. They were glad that he could do that now.

Another short nap for 15 minutes occured before the OT and PT ladies came in. At first they wanted to just let him sleep, but Steve and I said NO! Get him out of this bed! So, they did! They worked on sitting him up at the side of the bed again. His blood pressure stayed low, and they decided to try him standing. When told to lean forward, David did some of the work. When told to lift up off the bed, David did some of that too! Finally they decided he was doing so well, they would try transfering him to the wheelchair. It was awesome to see him out of bed. He sat in the wheelchair and answered some questions with the yes/no board again. Steve suggested they raise the arms up so David could sit up with better posture which worked even better. Before getting out of the chair, David started to fall asleep again. Steve and I decided to leave after he got back to bed and let him sleep. We went to San Francisco for a few hours, had some corn chowder and crab soup that was delicious.

Arriving home, we went to check in on David again. He had been just fallen asleep 5 minutes before we got there. Maybe tonight he will sleep better. So again, God is answering prayers and we continue to see David's brain healing. Everyday there is something that improves. Oh yeah, he is turning his head now to see people and objects on the other side of the room. The therapists had said to talk to him from the left side of the bed so that he would start turning his head. And David did that too! Yeah!

Thanks again for all your support and words of encouragement. Don't forget to sign the guestbook, or post a comment, so we know who is praying. Thanks Mike and JoAnn, and Joe at Bogner Pools for helping with our pool after the fires. :-) Jenna, thank you so much for staying at our home, and taking care of Chester, the plants, and the house. Kelli said you are a great housekeeper! Someone will be lucky when they marry you!

This computer thinks that I don't have any email addresses, so if you would send your email addresses to me at phuddle104@charter.net, I would appreciate that too. God Bless and love to all. Patty