Thanksgiving Day, 2007

10 PM P.S.T.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our family (minus Brian, who hit some snags at work and couldn’t get off in time to fly out from Texas) at the Fisher House. A church donated a turkey, ham and most of the fixins, so many of the people here got organized and together we put together an awesome meal for 20-30 people. There was a lot left over, so we’ll be eating turkey for breakfast tomorrow morning!

This morning Patty and I saw a different side of David. He was aggressive, and he scared Patty. He pulled her toward him, and she said, “Oh, do you want a hug”, but he bit her hair and would not let go. When she finally pulled away, he had hair hanging out of his mouth that he had ripped out of her head! Then as she was interacting with him he grabbed her fingers and twisted them as he pulled them across his body. She felt like he could have broken them. I talked to two doctors about this, and they said that in a way this was good, because this is one of the stages that TBI (traumatic brain injury) patients go through as they slowly emerge from their coma.

Christa and Laura spent a lot of time with David again today while Patty, Mike and I watched kids and grocery shopped. After we ate our big meal we all took turns visiting David. We tried to see if he would type on the notebook computer. He punched a few keys and hit the backspace to erase, but that was about it. Patty typed some words and asked him to point to those objects, and he did. Some. Mike played dice with him, and David would point to the dice that showed five, three, etc. He is still quick with his answers to his sisters math questions.

After he fell asleep, Patty stayed a long time and “ranged” his left arm and leg. This is where we stretch and straighten his limbs to help prevent the stiffness that can result in permanent lessening of his ‘range of motion’. His arm especially is so tight that we cannot “range” it while he is awake.

We looked at photos and videos of David that we have taken since the accident and it was clear how much progress he has made. We are still concerned about his future, but it reminded me of the Israelites after God performed miracle after miracle in bringing them out of Egypt. As they continued to wander through the wilderness they had to look back at what God had already done in order to keep their faith strong. As we look back we have faith for the future.

Steve

Friday, 10:37 am...

Yesterday, when Laura and I went in to see David, he gave us high fives, hugs and kisses on our cheeks and hands!!!! It totally made the last 20 years of no kisses worth it, to get ours yesterday! It felt like heaven to feel his hugs again. He slept a lot when we were there, which we knew he needed. There wasn't any therapy yesterday, so it was good for him to just rest. Later that night the nurses put him in his chair and we talked quite a bit with him (mom, Laura and me). We asked him if he knew why he was in the hospital and he gave us a thumbs down. We explained that there was a car accident. We asked if he remembered hanging out at the beach in Turkey with his friends. He gave us a thumbs up. We asked if he remembered the rocky beach, the chicks in bikinis, etc., etc. and he just listened intently. We asked if he remembered each of his 3 friends in the car and he gave us an immediate thumbs up for each one! Boys, you should have seen how his face seemed to light up at the mention of your names! We asked if he remembered Michael Cote, his commanding officer, and his thumb went way up! His memory is there, that's for sure!

Earlier that day, we went through listing the names of people in the pictures that are taped to his walls, friends and family. I would ask, "can you find the picture of Bella?" We would watch as his eyes would search the walls and then he would give a thumbs up. He did this repeatedly for quite a few people.

At another point in our day, David was laying on his side and Laura and I were talking to him and Mike was sitting in the chair that was towards his back. We asked if he could see Mike and he turned his whole body over and looked right at Mike! It was awesome! He has come SOOOO far from when we left him in DC! We are truly encouraged by all his improvements, memory and ability to process things as fast as he does. To God be the Glory for the miracle that is David's life!

- Christa