Natalie turned 18 on July 22, 2008. We had a party at Rock Bottom with lots of her friends.
Natalie's graduation from Canyon Crest Academy, June 12, 2008
US Open cake from Four Seasons Aviara.
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It's been a little over two months since I have updated the blog. Since then, I have been to South Beach Miami for a bachelorette party and to Boulder for Natalie's orientation at University of Colorado. Natalie has signed up for all her classes, is in the leadership program and will start college on August 25. We fly there on the 21st to get all moved in....
Oh yeah....this blog is about Josh! Well, let's see...I guess he's coming along. It's hard to measure his progress since I see him everyday... Josh's memory is getting better. He remembers that Mike, Angie and Tyler were here for Natalie's graduation ! That is big. It seems that his memory for big events is fairly decent at times, but the small stuff like what he had for breakfast and what he did the day before is spotty... Dr. B explained that this is how the memory comes back, first the big stuff, then the small stuff...
Josh continues to perseverate about Jerry and college and now my mother.... Josh will call me at work in the middle of the afternoon and ask, "Where's your mother?" very strange... and totally annoying... He is also into this thing where he asks, "Who died first Grandma or Dad.... what about Armen??? did he go to heaven or hell??? (then he just laughs like there is no tomorrow..crazy Joshy.) what about Hector??? is he still alive???" Every night Josh will look at family pictures and ask where they all are... The other night Josh asked about Myron! He said, "Mom, is Myron still around?" The other day Josh was reading Uncle Charlie's obituary and started on him... "Where is he?" Dr. B thinks that Josh is literally asking where they are. If we are in the car and I remind Josh to put hisseatbelt on, he'll say, "I am not putting it on...I want to be with Dad.." Then he just laughs.... The other day Josh was yelling at Vin and I said, "Josh, why are you screaming?" Josh says, "Because Vin didn't know Jerry." Then he'll laugh. He asks everyone "Did you know my Dad?" This is that lack of executive function thing where he just blurts out stupid stuff or laughs inappropriately if he sees someone fall. If I bring Josh to Reliable Pipe, he'll walk up to the customers and say "What's your name?" He constantly looks at Mike Nunez and asks him, "Where's Hector? Is he with my Dad?"
Josh does well when he is engaged in some kind of activity and has an amazing concentration level considering what happened to him. Four days a week he has four hours of one on one therapy, two in the morning at Encinitas Learning Center in his advanced neuroplasticity program and then two hours in the afternoon with his tutor. He can do algebra and complex averages... He is doing very well and Mike Jones is quite pleased with his progress and loves working with Josh. Yesterday Mike called me at work after their tutoring session and told me that Josh remembered his middle name which Mike told him last month....the memory thing is quite bizarre and spotty...some things he stores away and remembers and other things he immediately forgets... When Josh is perseverating about Jerry or college, he won't remember anything you tell him or anything that is happening around him... He is in the "crazy Josh world" trying to sort things out... It is like a broken record that is stuck in the groove... the therapists say to touch him to ground him to reality... IT IS MADDENING AND DIFFICULT!!
The "When am I going back to college?" thing is continuing. Josh constantly asks me this and when he does I no longer say "soon". Dr. B says you must tell him that he'll go back when his brain heals, that he needs to work hard atall his therapies so his memory and reasoning ability will come back. I have something written out which explains that he suffered from a near death brain injury which caused cell death in his brain when he had no oxygen... Josh understands sometimes. If you tell him that he'll go back to college "if your brain heals", he has a fit. He'll scream, "What do you mean IF????"
I decided that I wanted happy, motivated professionals around Josh so I got rid of Nino, his driver, and put an ad in Craig's list for an educator to drive Josh to Encinitas Learning Center and to work with the therapists there to understand what is happening and reinforce those exercises at home. The ad stated that the educator must play xbox, pool, cards, ping pong and golf, and most importantly have a sense of humor. I want fun people around Josh, not boring caregivers that don't give a shit. I also stated in the ad that a telephone interview was required and gave my cell phone number. I probably received 50 calls from retired and laid off teachers. I hired two young guys, Zach and Zodi. Zach has a degree in special education and is a substitute teacher. He has a great personality, is fun, full of great ideas and is very enthusiastic. He is also darling, 6 foot, blonde and blue and married to a gal who works in the pharmaceutical industry. Zodi has a teaching degree from San Diego State in kinesthesiology. He is fun, animated, extremely polite and humble! I got so many qualified people that my head was spinning. I decided to break up the week, three days for Zach and two days for Zodi. So far, so good. Before I was not ready to interview people and tell them exactly what I wanted. I was too emotional so I just called agencies and said, "Send me people." I think Josh will make better progress with fun people around him. If they get burnt out, I'll hire other fun people.
Josh's latest thing is watching movies. He loves to laugh. He'll focus on an entire movie. If I walk in the room, he'll get distracted and start with the crazy questions. A few days ago, Josh walked in my bedroom around 6:30 a.m. with the Cheech and Chong DVD. He'll get up really early and read all his notes on the kitchen table. I'll hear him mulling around in the kitchen.
I have more to tell, but it's 20 minutes until 11 andI have a golf date at 11:30 and haven't showered yet...so I'll finish up when I get back and attach some photos of Natalie's bday and graduation.... I am dating now and having fun!! Stay tuned.....
xoxoxo
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Josh is still going to HBOT but only once a week and at a deeper depth, 2.0 atmospheres. He loves it! As he becomes more and more cognitive, I think we will go deeper. It helps with stiffness. Josh has blisters on his hands from gripping the golf club so tightly. He needs to loosen up. We're laying off of golf for a while and doing frisbee golf which is great exercise.
