The experts are telling me that Josh is making slow, steady progress...

Well, it's been almost two months since I have updated the blog.  Josh is continuing with his therapies.  He has a busy schedule.  Everyday he attends the Encinitas Learning Center from 9:30 to 11:30.  He is continuing with the Fast Forword neuroplasticity computer-based program.  The program is designed to develop the following skills:  advanced listening accuracy; auditory sequencing which is the ability to recognize and remember the order in which a series of sounds is presented, something which is critical for mapping sound sequences when spelling;  word analysis which is the ability to recognize words, identify multi-syllabic words and recognize the relationship between letters and sounds and understand letter patterns;  sustained attention which is the ability to remain focused on a given task while ignoring distractions and refraining from impulsive behavior;  phonological memory; listening comprehension; following directions; English language conventions which is understanding the elements of the English language, including proper word order, syntax, vocabulary, prefixes and suffixes, plurals and subject-verb agreement; and vocabulary.   Basically, it's all about memory, attention, processing and sequencing. 

It's pretty amazing that Josh is doing so well in this program and has been promoted to the Fast ForWord Literacy Advanced program.  What's rather mind-boggling is that Josh can do all this literacy stuff and even have a discussion with you about the presidential campaign, but continues with the haunting, crazy questions about his Dad and college.  The perseveration continues and it's totally exhausting and awful to deal with.  "Where's Dad?"  "When did he die?"  "How old was I when he died?"  "How old was Natalie?" ......   Then every once in a while Josh will say, "I really hate the way Dad died," which I suppose shows that he understands that he's dead.  Every once in a while Josh will say, "I really miss Dad."  This is good, I think, but then he goes back to the same craziness with the "Where's Dad?" thing....   He also asks about Grandma.  He'll look at her picture and say, "Where is she?"  It's nuts.

Josh also continues with the "When am I going back to college?" thing in his crazy, slurred speech.  The shrink says that what this really means is "When am I getting my life back?"  This makes sense to me.  The problem with Josh is that he has anosagnosia.  Doesn't that sound like some awful disease????   It is a term used to describe a lack of awareness about a physical or mental impairment caused by brain damage.  People with anosagnosia are incapable of understanding that they have an impairment.  A classic example of someone with anosagnosia was the Unibomber.  He thought he was normal and refused to allow his attorney to raise the insanity defense.  How crazy is that.  The guy filled notebooks with pages and pages of numerical codes which he devised himself.   When the FBI and the CIA raided his apartment, they found the key to all these crazy, number sequences.....

The good news is my shrink thinks Josh will get past this anosagnosia stage and realize that he does, in fact, have some serious brain damage.  Then Josh will become frustrated and most likely depressed.  The other day Josh mentioned that he felt very frustrated.  I was really glad when he said that.  Every once in a blue moon Josh will have a moment of clarity, but it seems that it is short lived. 

I found a wonderful clinical psychologist who specializes in brain injuries.  She has a wealth of knowledge and I can "pick her brain" and ask her all kinds of questions about anoxic injuries.  The other day when I was in her office, she pointed to a lovely painting on the wall and said one of her clients who had a similar injury as Josh's, did the painting.  She tells me that Josh will make lots of progress even after two years.  This makes me feel hopeful.  Dr. B (that's what we'll call her) also recommended that I take antidepressants since I am feeling so overwhelmed lately.  I am going the natural route and am taking SamE which you can buy in the grocery store.  It stands for S-adenosylmethionine and is derivative of the amino acid methionine which the body naturally produces.  I like it.  I feel better.  It's the rage in Europe.  Americans reach for Prozac while the Europeans reach for the SamE.  SamE is beneficial for disorders of the joints and connective tissue.  It also promotes the health of the liver and may lower homocysteine levels.  This is good since I have been drinking lots of wine lately...yum.

I was feeling lousy so I went to the doctor.  My doctor is moving to Arizona so I saw this new guy who happened to be absolutely gorgeous which was very distracting.  My back was killing me and I, of course, thought I was dying of lung cancer.  I had convinced myself that something was dreadfully wrong at the base of both of my lungs.  As it turned out, I was having back spasms and my lungs were fine...  This guy did a bunch of blood work and everything checked out.  So, I guess that red wine is definitely helping...  This doctor gave me his cell phone number and told me I could call him any time of day.  I thought that was rather odd.  Have you ever had a doctor give you his cell number????   I just said, "Oh, thank you so much, Doctor.  That is so kind of you."  Maybe I should give him a buzz at 3 a.m. and tell him my back is spasming and I need a back rub!!  

Natalie and I had an amazing time in Maui.  Wailea is gorgeous and the ocean was like whale soup.  The whales were jumping up and out of the water continuously.  It was beautiful and quite entertaining!  We did not want to come home!  The Grand Wailea is an amazing resort !  We went ten minutes south of the resort and saw Big Beach which is undeveloped and stunning!  There were ten people on the beach.... I dragged Natalie out of bed to go there and she was happy I did!

Natalie and I went to Boulder for a long weekend and that's Natalie's college pick - the University of Colorado at Boulder.  It's lovely. 

 

The campus is beautiful!  It has an East Coast feel but is only two hours away!  You fly into Denver and drive 1/2 an hour to the college. 

The shopping at Boulder was wonderful!  Here we are in a gourmet olive oil boutique with all kinds of goodies on the shelves. 

I hope Natalie will be happy there!  I'll miss her ! 

Natalie and her girlfriends recently went to the senior prom.  They are all gorgeous!  Doesn't Josh look great??  He's getting better! 

I forgot to mention that Josh got fitted for a hearing aid and it's helping.  His tutors and therapists say he is doing much better with it.  We'll wait a while and eventually do the left ear as well.  We wanted to do the right ear since his hearing is more damaged on that side.  Hopefully Josh's speech will improve.  Dr. S. says he'll speak more clearly over time since he will be hearing better.  We'll see...

I am excited that Mike, Angie and Tyler are coming out for the US Open.  We'll wine and dine and have some laughs!   Angie needs some R&R after all she has been through.  It's over now!!!  What an ordeal !  Thanks, everyone for reading Josh's blog! 

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