Tuesday August 30, 2005

Tuesday August 30, 2005 Zack was ready to get up and eat breakfast when I arrived. He gobbled it down pretty fast and was ready to get dressed when Dr. Mook (physiatrist) came in to check out his head. He told me he would remove Zack’s G-tube (the tube in his stomach that he was fed through) on Friday morning. It was still early so Zack said we should take a walk. I explained that it was raining outside and he wanted to go look at it. Since they let Scott walk him down to the cafeteria last night (they got a late night snack) he wanted to walk to the lobby. As we headed sown the hall he told me, “let’s leave, lets just get out of here”. He is talking about going home or anywhere almost every day now. We run into Kathy (speech therapist) on the first floor and he stops to talk with her like they were old friends. When she walks away he tells me “I like her”. Back in the room we still had a half hour before Kathy would be back for speech so we threw his big baseball back and forth while we took turns counting. We got up to 200 before he decided to quit. 9:00 Speech Kathy has him divide words into categories (colors, fruit, animals, clothing, sports, meat). He had a lot of difficulty but he did not quit or get frustrated. He did much better when she had him divide pictures into categories. He did get upset when he couldn’t identify letters of the alphabet. After speech he lay down in bed with a grin and said he was glad she was gone. Morning P.T. in the gym and he had to unload a cart full of fake groceries and put them in a storage bin with his right hand. Then they had him walk around the gym picking up heavy objects (balls and weights) with his right hand and put them in a cart. He had to push the cart all over the gym and up a small ramp. The wheels got stuck, the cart fell over and everything went everywhere. He got a little frustrated but immediately began to pick everything up. Amy asked him what happened and he said, “I don’t know” (angry). She showed him how to tilt the cart to get it over the hump. He emptied all the heavy objects out and them Amy got in front of the cart and made it a little harder to push. He did not like it. He looked at the clock and tried so hard to tell time. He didn’t get frustrated, just tried very hard to figure it out. He walked the balance beam and then she made him do push ups, on his knees and regular. It was hard for him. It was time for O.T. with Mary Beth and they discussed what happened when the cart fell over and how he felt. He said, “It scared the crap out of me”. He got a little upset doing a puzzle and then said he was sorry. He was frustrated, cried and shook his fist while doing the puzzle. He doesn’t want to get that upset but he can’t control it and that seems to make him angry. He is O.K. with the physical challenges but the mental challenges seem to frustrate him the most. Of course he finished all his lunch and hopped in bed for a little nap. He told me he wanted to leave, that I was driving and Donna was taking him home. I told him it was really raining hard and people were driving like maniacs. He seems to get a little worried and said “we have to get you away from those maniacs”.
Afternoon speech they worked more on identifying pictures and putting them into groups.
After speech Zack decides he will take a nap in his recliner. Rita (Scott’s Mom) sits next to him and holds his hand. He told her it would be better if she didn’t touch him. She asked if she could put her hand on his knee? He said no. Can she put her hand on his chest? No. Can she tell him he is handsome? He said yes with a grin. Back in the gym with Amy and he works out on the step machine with increased resistance. He didn’t like it. Amy had him on the mat balancing on one knee and tossing a ball. He did sit ups, push-ups and jumping jacks. Amy’s job now is to work on strength, balance and endurance. There was a little time between P.T. and O.T. so he was back in his room. Mrs. (Judy) Funderburg stopped by to tell Zack she would be back up to work with him on Saturday. She asked him if there was anything he wanted and he told her “a convertible”. She asked him if he knew who she was and he said “Judy” and really laughed. He had never called the assistant principal by her first name. He was going to sleep so she leaned down and told him she loved him. He said, “I love you too”. He is so sweet and we have come to realize how many people love him. When it was time to leave for O.T. Zack had a short dizzy spell. I feel confident that once we get weight back on him that this medication (Florenef) will take care of the problem. Mary Beth has him screw different size nuts onto bolts going through a board at eye level. He did very well. She has him lift 10 lb weights with his right hand and it was very hard for him (he is still very weak in that arm). Mary Beth told Zack he would be going home in about 3 weeks. She asked him what is the first thing you are going to do when you get home. He said, “sleep”. I guess he is tired of us constantly waking him up from naps. Back in the room he lays down to take…what else…another nap. Nick Snoddy comes to visit before dinner since he has been out of town for a while. Zack tells me that he and Nick need to leave. When I asked him where they were going he said, “out of here”. After dinner Andrew, Taylor, and Tiffany arrive. They sit around talking with Zack and he keeps asking them if they want to go bowling. He gets up and tells me goodbye and walks to the door. He insists that they are going bowling. A couple of other kids arrive and I ask them to wait in the hall but Zack keeps getting up to check to see if they are there. I decide to try taking them all to the conference room with Zack. We take a deck of cards and they sit at the table and I try to hide on the couch. Zack keeps looking at me and saying bye Mom or goodnight. They play Go Fish and Zack deals while counting in Spanish. He has a good time with them but then he is tired and we go back to the room after about 30 minutes so he can rest. Everyone says goodbye. Mr. Greener from Christian Academy comes by and tells Zack he has brought him some homework. It doesn’t seem to bother him and he says he wants to go back to school. When he leaves Zack walks Mr. Greener to the elevator, says goodbye and tries to get on the elevator. I told him Mr. Greener was leaving, not him. All the way back to the room Zack wants me to explain why he can’t leave. They started Zack on Lexapro tonight. It is a mild anti-depressant. He gets very restless particularly at night. I have to walk him around the halls while we wait for someone to give him a shower. If I stop or take him back to his room he says, “let’s go”. I have mixed feelings about him coming home. It will be nice to have our whole family back together and not driving home so late every night from downtown but it will be hard. We will no longer have the staff here to help us and I can imagine that Zack may get frustrated with Dylan and the girls. We won’t have as structured an environment for him and I don’t know how easily he will adjust. It scares me to think that he may get up in the middle of the night and fall so I envision Scott sleeping outside the bedroom door. We will need intense prayers at that time to help us be parents and nurses too. We are fortunate to have Kim Getz next door since she was a nurse but so much responsibility will be nerve racking. I remember when we brought Zack home from the hospital as an infant. We lived in California at the time and as first time parents we were very nervous. I had a very patient pediatrician that would tolerate my calls everyday (sometimes three times a day). I am feeling that apprehension again. Every moment having to be sure that he is not doing something that could make him fall and re-injure his head. Always watching to be sure he doesn’t take that helmet off. He is so precious to us. I am thankful that God is in control…that his strength is made perfect when we are weak. I know He would not spare Zack’s life and send him home without preparing us. Please pray that we can wait on God’s timing, both for Zack’s recovery and our confidence.