Josh wants out in a bad way!

 

Josh with Cindi and Sara, OTs.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Josh wants out in a bad way!  Last night he told me at least twenty times, "Mom, let's go."  I keep telling him he has to get better first, but Josh insists that he is better.  The good thing is Josh wants to go home, but the bad thing is he doesn't realize what he needs to do in order to go home.  This is tough for all of us....

Josh is also going through what's called confabulation which is common with brain injuries.   He fabricates ideas and is insistent on doing things which make no sense.  For example, a few days ago after hbot, Josh was insisting that we stay and watch the fight after his treatment.  "Mom, we gotta stay here and watch the fight."  I say, "Josh, there is no fight.  You are just thinking in your mind that there is a fight."  Josh was ranting and raving insisting that we stay.   In the van on the way back to Sharp, Josh was screaming and swearing, "F you, Mom.  You let Natalie stay and watch the fight.  We have to go back there.  Hey, Eddie (Josh calls Mike, the driver, Eddie), turn this van around and go back.  I have to watch the fight...."   

We can't reason with Josh today.  We get back to Sharp, one of the nurses asks Josh how he is.  Josh replies, "Shitty.  I hate my mom."   The nurse laughs.  Josh is so angry about "the fight". 

I now start second guessing myself about the hbot and am thinking that it is over-stimulating him in a bad way.  I talked to Dr. S about it yesterday.  I told him what happened with Josh and how unreasonable he was....  Dr. S says to continue with the 40 block treatment.  We decide that it would be a good idea to hydrate Josh and feed him before each hbot since hbot burns through the blood sugar quickly and gets you stimulated.  Dr. S also tells me that what Josh is doing is very typical - this confabulation thing.... 

Josh is also acting impulsively overconfident in trying to get up and walk when he doesn't have the coordination yet.  This is a tough thing to deal with since Josh is so strong and I am not the biggest person...

Yesterday, Dr. S put a cast on Josh's left arm to straighten it out.  When I arrived at the hospital and saw the cast, I panicked and thought Josh broke his arm.  Dr. S will leave the cast on with Josh's arm extended in a certain position and will then recast in a few days to further extend Josh's arm out and repeat the process until Josh can fully straighten out the left arm. 

On a good note, Josh is gaining weight and has a great appetite.  All is going well with the swallowing.  He is chowing down that nasty hospital food! 

We'll see what today brings.  How about a miraculous recovery, Josh!  That would be wonderful!