Natalie made arrangements to have Josh's buddies come over for his birthday. She is a sweetheart and Josh is a lucky boy.
The guys and gals hung out and played Xbox, ate pizza and cupcakes -- just like when they were little... All of his buddies are home from college. All Josh said most of the day was "Wow, I'm 21...I can drink alcohol..." I'm trying to drive home that he can't drink because of his brain injury. I have everything written down in his memory book. Josh spends a great deal of the day reading his memory book. Eventually I think and hope things will "sink in" and he'll understand what happened. Every once in a while he'll say, "What happened to me?" This is a good thing because he's at least realizing that something happened...
Xmas Eve with Natalie and Kendall at Gary and Vonnie's house, friends of the family. Don't worry...Josh isn't drinking. We were!!
Xmas Eve we spent at Gary and Vonnie's house. We had a wonderful time ! Gary and Vonnie are both incredible cooks and entertainers. Their house was festive and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Here's Josh with Lizzy and Rogers. They had a holiday open house on the 23rd. They are laughing because I told them to get in the picture with their newly adopted son...
Here's beautiful Bella, Gary and Vonnie's doggy. She is sweet, unlike my wild animals...
So....we survived the holidays. We actually had a great holiday. Christmas Day, we had company -- my girlfriends Molly, Mary, Christina and Josh's trainer, Christopher came over. We ate and drank and carried on. Then, we went house hopping - first to Carolyn and Buck's house in Whispering Palms, then to Ellen's for a traditional turkey dinner. It was fun.
Before the holidays I had Josh professionally assessed by two teachers from Torrey Pines High School. They did standardized testing on Josh for two hours to see how he is functioning academically. I will get the results after the first of the year. I think he did well. Josh is such a team player and is eager to please. After I get the test results, I will have Josh tutored every day for several hours in the afternoon to keep him mentally stimulated and moving forward. I hired a behavioral consultant to help me out with this.
Josh is still an outpatient at Sharp Rehab having physical, occupational and speech therapy. Christopher works with Josh twice a week at the gym. He also takes him to the club to work on his "short" game. I hired a new guy caregiver, Don, to hang out with Josh. They watch football, play Monopoly, Xbox and pool.
I have decided that I need to be away from Josh more. In fact, the more, the merrier. He is driving me crazy with the "Where's Dad?" thing. I thought I'd be able to get answers from Dr. Gardner, but no such luck. This perseveration thing is maddening and weird.
Josh's short term memory is improving a tiny bit. He can remember names now and then and will sometimes really surprise you. I am really looking forward to getting him in a structured program at home with the tutoring. As far as the executive functioning thing, Josh is getting a little better. We went to my girlfriend Devora's house yesterday because her Dad passed away suddenly. Josh was very appropriate and said he was sorry. That's a good thing. At least, he didn't laugh in her face. But, then this morning when I was telling Josh about the Bhutto assassination in Pakistan, he started laughing hysterically....
So, that's the news in a nutshell! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and holiday season! We miss everyone! Thanks for thinking of us!!! Happy New Year! Here's to a great 2008!! THANK GOD FOR XBOX!! Mike, Angie and Tyler, thanks for that guitar game, it is a big hit! All the kids come over and play it. Josh still loves the John Madden NFL game, but he'll sit and watch all of Natalie's buddies play the guitar. It's a fun game. I am still trying to get the hang of it. I bet Tyler is good! xoxo
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