Wednesday, November 28, 2007

11:30 PM
David is continuing to improve. The dr. gave me a questionaire to fill out and score on David called The Orientation Log (O-Log). If he answers 25/30 points correctly for 3 days then we know he is past the "post trauma stage"(?). The sooner he comes through this stage, the better his prognosis will be. He has to answer questions about the date, time, city, kind of place that he is in, name of hospital, month, date, year, day of the week, clock time, etiology of his accident, and what is wrong with him. I will ask him the questions tomorrow. However, tonight he was worried about his trachea and if he would be able to talk when they take it out. He has heard us and the nurses discussing inflating and deflating the tube in the trachea and why it has to be there: keep from aspirating fluid into his lungs, being able to talk when it is capped, etc. Well, he is hearing parts of the conversations, and is scared that he might suffocate, aspirate, or get pneumonia. He asked to talk to the dr. We promised that tomorrow he could. He said to tell Kelly he was sorry if he suffocated before she got here! Pray for peace for him. We have tried to explain and think that he is understanding enough to get him through the night hopefully. But what a miracle that he is questioning his treatment! He also this morning was unscrewing the bolt in his arm brace to stretch out his arm more. We laughed that he would become his own physical/occupational therapist or take over their jobs. During therapy today, he stood for 23 minutes at the standing table. Then again this afternoon for a shorter period. He walked the parallel bars a tad bit quicker today. We got a SMILE out of David today. PT was working on his legs and getting him to kick. Christa was sitting close enough by that he would kick her sometimes. She got back at him by tickling his feet. That is when he smiled! :-) He would imitate Christa by putting a "half-sphere, foam, shaped thing" on his head and trying to balance it. We were having fun with him again! The therapists are very good with David and the other guys here. They laugh and joke with them, but treat them very respectful. We are soooo thankful for them. Plus, they let us get involved helping too.
David communicated by writing quite a bit today. It is very hard to read. He looks straight ahead and writes down low. I don't know why he isn't looking at the paper or board that he is writing on. But, when we gave him a phone to text on, it appeared that he was looking straight at the phone. So.... I don't know what type of vision deficits he may have. He did nod yes when we asked if his vision was blurry. Please pray for that issue too.
The family is all leaving tomorrow. Steve, Christa and the kids will drive home early in the morning. I will take Laura and Brea to the airport. Some good "old" friends arrived tonight and are staying till Sat., Randy and Violet Rugh. David hugged Violet tonight and shook Randy's hand. He wrote "Rugh" on the board to let us know that he remembered them! Steve's brother, sister, and dad are coming up tomorrow for a few days. Then Kelli and Rose Manning are coming on Friday. Pray for a safe journey for all of them.
Thanks for all your prayers again. Patty