Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Today was another sleepily good day. We woke David up for church (funny how some things don’t change) and got him ready just in time to meet Jim, Donna and Jenna Santo as they pulled up in the parking lot. We wheeled David over to the chapel in the VA hospital, and the service was good, in a real traditional way. It was mostly older veterans and their families, and besides David there was one other young military guy there. David was impressed enough that he wanted to shake the chaplain’s hand and thank her. We walked back to David’s room and talked for a bit and then the Santo’s brought out the birthday and Christmas gifts. As Jenna gave the first gift to David, he said “no wrapping paper”, so she had to unwrap David’s presents for him. It’s hard to unwrap a present when you only have the use of one hand. He got a “Trouble” game (with the Pop-O-Matic) and said “this could be trouble”. He got a nerf gun that shoots soft balls that is pretty cool. He took a certain pleasure in shooting me for some reason! Now that I think about it, so did Patty. They brought him a miniature (could it be a bonzi) Christmas Tree and decorated it for him. It was very nice of them, and even if David didn’t express it, I know it made his day. They left, and he fell asleep soon after.

For David’s friends who would like to come visit, we just want you to know that it is a 6.5 to 7 hour drive (with no LA traffic) from Riverside, and he may only be able to ‘hang out’ and visit for an hour or so a day. His schedule is not consistent, and it is hard to tell when he will be awake or asleep. Sometimes even when he is awake he will not respond to your comments or questions. We just want you to know what to expect if you come up. He has improved tremendously, even miraculously, but he is still a very sick young man. His memory is still sketchy, he may not even remember that you visited him. He has therapy 4-5 hours a day during the week, and the rest of the day he often is sleeping. The weekends are better because he only has Physical Therapy for an hour. Some of the therapy sessions we can sit in on, if we are quiet and don’t distract him from his work. Please call us if you are thinking of coming up (we don’t want to discourage you as much as let you know the reality of his situation). (Steve’s cell) is 951-233-3616 and Patty's is 951-233-0744. We know that if David was normal again he would love to see you all, but he is not quite to that place yet, so we want you to pray about when is the right time for you to come up and visit.

At 3:30, Mitch (PT on Sun. and Mon.) came to wake David up for PT. David probably spent 10 minutes riding a stationary bike (powered) while asleep. The bike can be set to a specific speed, and the object is for the patient to pedal faster than that speed. Then it displays how much the patient is ‘helping’. David would go in spurts, as he fell asleep and woke up. Finally I think that we pestered him enough that he was up for walking on the parallel bars, and then walking with the really cool walker, from the gym all the way to his room. He had the PT guys, Mitch and Chris, sweating by the time they got to David’s room. He moved his left leg more that ever (he still needed help), but it gave us hope that he will improve until he can walk on his own! When David got into bed, I kind of recapped the day, I mentioned church, the visit from the Santos, how excellent he did at PT, how proud I was of him and his progress, and he seemed to fall asleep. I don’t know how much he heard, but I really am proud of my son.

Steve