September Wrap Up

It is now 2-1/2 months since Jeff's accident. And while Jeff still has an incredibly long haul in front of him, he also has made some incredible progress.

His conversations with family, visitors and staff are improving steadily, bit by bit, each week. Jeff is now able to hold 2-way conversations fairly well, at times. And sometimes, the conversation thread can be re-directed. At other times, he has been agitated, unhappy, nervous, and/or scared, sometimes crying. Although this is painful to watch, the audiologist says this is a favorable sign because it indicates his brain is trying to process information. We certainly hope this is so.

Jeff's orthopedic surgeon checked out his pelvis on 9/21 and said the bones were still not set yet and that he will need the fixator for another 2 weeks or so. (For this 'check,' Jeff had to be transported by ambulance to the Medical Center and it was a painful experience for him.) Jeff continues to try to get out of bed (with that fixator still in place), so additional restraints to keep him from damaging his fragile bones became necessary. He was then moved to an area where "sitters" could be on hand 24/7 (especially when Jeff had no visitors at his side).

On 9/27, Jeff was moved from the Memorial Hermann CCU to a long-term nursing facility. Again, he had to be transported by ambulance and, again, it was very traumatic for Jeff. The move caused him pain & extreme agitation, but he seems to be adapting fairly well since then.

Some light-hearted notes:

• He has played 3-way catch with a small stuffed ball, and it didn't take him long to get accustomed to "fake-outs" and do the same back.
• Jeff wrote a note to one of his sitters, thanking Caleb for his care.
• He read a few pages of the visitors' notebook that we keep in his room. We think he understand some of the notations, especially when he smiles.
• Jeff really goes into '7th heaven' when he gets massages or lotion applied -- first a big wide-eyed sigh of relief, then a grin, then some comment such as "sweet" or "yes" -- immediately followed by instructions on how to make it better!

On the other hand, the facial paralysis is still evident. He still needs meds to keep him calm & somewhat free of pain. And there are months ahead of physical therapy & rehabilitation to restore function to his atrophied muscles and get him walking again.