Josh gets his cast off, hopefully for good!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Josh got his cast off yesterday.  The left arm is pretty straight now.  His fingers are still a bit stiff and he does not have the mobility that he has on the right side, but he's getting there...  They made a splint for Josh to wear at night when he sleeps so that the arm does not revert back upward.  The OTs work with Josh to strengthen the left hand and get more dexterity in the fingers by doing various exercises such as reaching up with the left arm and picking up round pegs with the fingers of his left hand and placing the pegs in holes.  It's a struggle for Josh to reach upward with this arm, but he cooperates most of the time.

We had another one of those full staff meetings on Wednesday and Josh got rave reviews again from all the therapists. Josh is "waking up" more each day and constantly says he wants to get out of there.  Yesterday he says, "Mom, did you bring the car keys?"  I tell him yes.  He says, "Good, then I am riding home with you...."  I tell him he has to be steady on his feet first and safe before he can leave.  He pleads with me...  "Mom, don't make me cry..."  Oh God, how pitiful is that?  He is so childlike sometimes...

On the other hand, the day before, my buddy Tommy from NYC came to visit Josh and they played Texas Hold 'Em and guess who won all the chips?  Josh can still play cards and he's pretty good, too.  He's a real guys' guy and enjoyed himself. 

Josh's short term memory is shot...  Dr. S says it will get better.  Josh can't remember what he did a half hour ago and certainly has no recollection of yesterday.  We've been to HBOT over 40 times and every time we go, Josh asks where we're going.  When I ask him if he's ever been to HBOT before, he always says no.  Then once we get there, he laughs and jokes with the guys working there.  This short term memory thing is scary...  everyone tells me he'll improve, it just takes time.  I hope time heals Josh's wounds...

The speech therapist made Josh a memory log.  He is supposed to write in it every day, the same old thing.  My name is________.  (He always gets that right!   Yeah, Josh knows his name.)  Today is __________.  (You're supposed to write, the day and the date.  Half the time Josh doesn't know the year.  He'll say 2006 or 2005....  I will say that I don't even know what day it is half the time.  )  I am at ___________.  (He's supposed to write Sharp Rehab Center.  Various responses from Josh when I ask him where he is:   "At Earl Warren"  (his junior high school)  "At the dentist's office"  (???)  and my favorite response of all...   "At the Four Seasons."   My high roller son thinks it's room service that brings him his meals.  When the phone rings, he says "It's room service."   He must really be starving if he thinks hospital food is Four Seasons cuisine... 

Last night we were hanging out in Josh's room when he suddenly becomes so happy to see some guy walking past his room.  "Hey Fritz", Josh yells.  "Fritzy...Fritzy.."  This guy looks like Josh's buddy Fritz who went to UofA.  I tell Josh that that guy looks like Fritz, but it's not.  "Yes, it is, Mom. "  Josh does that a lot.  He'll see someone and it will spark a memory.  He'll see an oriental guy and says it's Lester's son.  Lester is one of the golf pros at Lomas who is oriental. 

I am reading a book called Where is the Mango Princess? which is a journey back from brain injury written by a woman whose husband suffered from a TBI.  Jean, the head ICU nurse at UMC in Tucson recommended this book to me.  It is pretty amazing what this couple went through.  The brain injured husband would ask his wife "Where is the Mango Princess?"  He would also insist he was at his law office and that the fax he was sending was not going through.  He would yell and scream and call everyone f'ing idiots.  He also masturbated incessantly and was a raving lunatic....   so I guess I don't have it so bad. 

I finally went to the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation meeting last weekend and was moved to tears.  The membership consists of survivors and caregivers.  After seeing some of those courageous survivors and their incredible zest for life, I could barely speak.  I met a guy who was the victim of gang violence.  He had the crap beat out of him with a baseball bat.  His head shook like a bauble head toy.  I met a guy who was shot in the face for $15!!!  He owed some guy $15 and didn't have the money, so the guy shot him!  There were people who had strokes, car accidents, sports injuries, had fallen off of ladders...you name it.  They all stood up, one by one, and told their stories.  Everyone was kind and wonderful.  There was a table set up with all kinds of information and resources.  The number one complaint from everyone was short term memory issues.  They have resources and programs for this problem, so help is out there. 

I met a young lady who had suffered from a TBI when she was in a car accident.  I hired her part time to be a caregiver for Josh and keep him company at the hospital since I am getting so burnt out.  She is a college student and needs to do an internship at the Brain Injury Foundation.  She is upbeat and seems great.  She starts tonight... she'll do some speech therapy stuff with Josh, have him read and write a bit...she has an assortment of exercises for him to do...  Hope it works out.  I know she is a compassionate person -- she gets her elderly dog who can barely stand up pool therapy....