Thursday, December 6, 2006

8:30 AM Friday- (writing about Thursday)

Hey everyone! Sorry we missed the blog last night. David went to bed around 9 and mom and I HAD to watch Grey's Anatomy! We sort of fell asleep afterwards... Sorry!

Well, David had a really great day yesterday! He didn't have any hitting episodes and didn't seem paranoid or worried that people were plotting to attack him. We're obviously thankful for that, because it's really hard to comfort him when he's irrational, and also of course for his sake, how scary it must be to be out of sorts and confused.

During PT/OT he told us that he used the bike, maybe even the stationary bike?? Mom, Brea and I went to Mervyns to get him some comfy "workout" pants so we missed a bit of the morning. I visited him when we came back and we talked a bit, but he was tired and fell asleep for awhile. When I came back, I noticed he had his trache out!!! YAY! He has a large bandage on his neck, and he said it hurts a bit to talk as air kinda comes out through his neck still. What progress he's making! I can't wait til he gets his feeding tube out so there won't be anything for him to pull at and make him uncomfortable (and so he'll get to eat of course!). Speaking of that, David had another swallow session with Bruce, the speech therapist, and fed himself some pudding. I videotaped the whole thing, so once we get Dad's computer back we can start putting up some of the videos we've aquired. It'll be fun to look back on when he's better and see how far he's come. David was sound asleep when Bruce came in, but quickly woke up when he felt a spoon on his mouth. He started off slow, opening his mouth and Bruce would feed him, then he became more impatient and was motioning with his hand to speed it up. Finally he held the spoon and fed himself. He said it was "yummy."

He also had a session with the neuropsychologist, and he was talking a lot to her. He was remembering working in the movie theater and described his job, described his soccer position from high school, and and talked about his family...which is where he began to embellish a bit. Now he has a brother and a sister, who both have two kids, 2 step-brothers (maybe he meant brother-in-laws?), and 2 cousins. Cousins, you can fight over which one's he's claiming! But after those comments he mentioned Christa and me, and seemed to be back with it. Who knows?? Then the doctor's came and needed to talk with mom, so I was forced to relieve mom of her grandma role at the house. The docs discussed the medicine changes, which seemed to work well today as far as aggression and the confusion go, and also explained some of David's left sided eye weakness. When David writes, he always starts in the middle and writes toward the right. I guess with his eyes, he's probably seeing from about the middle to the right, and needs to remember to turn his head to see things on his left (which he can do). I'm not sure I understand this all, but just another thing to pray for healing from.

After the doctors talked with mom, she went back to him and read the blog comments to him. He REALLY enjoyed it and kept telling her to continue. He also asked for his phone, so mom called and got service (no texts or pics though) on it and charged it, so it's ready for him to make some calls. Here's the thing with the phone though, we don't want people to call or text him yet, but we want you to know that he may be calling you! If you do get a call from him, realize that he may be quiet for awhile as he gets his thoughts and words together, and be patient. It's hard not to fill in the awkward space with talking, but if you ask him a question, you might need to wait 30 sec- 1 min. for him to answer. And sometimes he hangs up without warning, and sometimes he calls back... Just be prepared!! One more thing, he got a brace for his foot, that should help keep it flat and straight so that he'll be able to put all his weight on it when he walks.

I think that's about it for yesterday, but if I forgot anything we'll add it tonight!

Have a great day! Thanks for your continued prayers and comments! God is GREAT!!
Laura