Friday August 12,2005

Friday August 12, 2005 Zack was still in bed when I arrived which is now unusual. Apparently he stayed up with Dad last night and they had to give him Trazodone at
4:30 A.M. and the effects have hung around. He eats breakfast and feeds himself with his right hand. He seems anxious to get up so my friend Teri and I take him for a short walk. Dr. Mook and Heidi (Physiatrist Nurse Practitioner) come in to check him out and say that his head wound looks really good. In P.T./O.T. this morning he tried to write his name and got the Z and A but got frustrated after that. He walked up 4 flights of stairs and was following directions much better. On his walk he gave Sarah Cahill (his case worker) the “O.K.” sign when she asked him how he was doing. Now it was time to work on weight bearing again, which means the “horsy” position. He did not like it, was mad and screamed, “I hate this”. Mary Beth (O.T.) and Amy (P.T.) told him he had to hold that position for a count to 20 so he counted the last 4 numbers and then said loudly,
“No more horsy”. At 11:00 we have our first morning speech therapy with Kathy. She wanted him to sort playing cards into red and black but he also put them in numerical order. She was very impressed (Zack loved to play cards). He is exhausted after therapy and practically falls in bed with his shoes on. Lunch arrives and he finally wakes up to eat a turkey sandwich and applesauce (with his right hand). At 1:30 it is back to speech therapy. Kathy was late and Zack was rubbing his head. Teri asked him what was wrong and he said “Sometimes I don’t understand Kathy’s games”. Wow! I have to ask Dr. Kraft about that because “working memory” doesn’t begin until Rancho level 6 so Zack shouldn’t remember Kathy since he didn’t know her before the accident. I’ll report back on this later. He got impatient waiting and said, “tell Kathy to come on”. He talks quite a bit to Kathy but it is in a low whisper. She gives him some lemon ice to help with his slow swallow and when they are done he says clearly “thanks for the dessert”. Afternoon in the gym with Amy (P.T.) and Sherri (another O.T. therapist) and they work that right shoulder. Amy electronically stimulates his shoulder to help the muscles contract (which will send the proper signals back to the brain). Sherri made him pick beanbags up with his right hand and transfer them across his body to a basket on the left side. It is hard for him and he gets emotional. He leans back exhausted but this time on his right elbow (we are getting there slowly but surely). Back in the room we get a visit from Dave Stone, Savannah and Sam. Zack smiles at them and when Dave asked him who was better looking Zack tells them “Savannah”. They are there when dinner arrives and Sam says grace. As soon as the Amen is out Zack reaches for the brownie on his tray and takes a big bite. He would have eaten the whole thing in a few bites if I didn’t take it away from him. As he continues to eat I give him the roll off of my tray. He takes a huge bite and I
was afraid that he would choke so I reached into his mouth and started grabbing it out. He thought it was funny and started laughing out loud. Rita, Louie, Zack and I were all laughing. We had several other visitors before Marissa (Zack’s girlfriend this past winter) and her Mom came up. Zack and Marissa played Nintendo baseball and the 1st
time he struck Marissa out he laughed out loud again. It is such a blessing to have all the positive emotions even if the negative ones are exaggerated at times. Marissa’s Mom told me that a minister from their church left for Scotland and now there is a church in Glasgow, Scotland praying for Zack. When it is time for Marissa to leave Zack gets very upset. He told her he did not want them to leave. They promised that they would come back and I know it was very hard for them to go. I don’t know what I will do the first time Zack cries and says he doesn’t want me to leave. The rest of the night it is just Zack and I. We toss the baseball a little bit and watch T.V. When it is time for his bath he stands up and gives me a hug. I thank him and he kisses me. I am overwhelmed at his tenderness. Maybe this will be a permanent blessing. Once in bed I hold his hand and we watch T.V. Again he pulls my face towards his, caresses it and gives me a kiss. How many mothers out there would love to have their teenage son be so affectionate? I feel very fortunate that I can have this time with him and as tragic as it seems sometimes, I think I may miss it. We look forward to tomorrow. He has both speech, occupational and art therapy. I know it will be a great day and if not it will still be perfect according to God’s plan. Please continue to pray for complete recovery and many opportunities for Zack to share his faith while telling of his mysterious journey back to this side of heaven.