Wednesday August 17, 2005

Wednesday August 17, 2005 Zack was eating breakfast early when I arrived this morning. I sat down with him and he was glad to see me. After a while he stood up and I asked him to sit back down. He said, “I want to shut the door”. I said I would and he said, “Should I?” Sensible conversation. Dr. Mook (physiatrist) said that Zack was a strong 4 and moving into a Rancho Level 5, which means we will start seeing new behavior. He said we should limit visitors to 2 or 3 at a time (hey kids we need to talk about putting together some kind of visiting schedule so everyone doesn’t come at once and have to wait) and no visitors during mealtime. Meals have become harder as he gets frustrated with utensils, which now results in aggression. Dr. Mook explained that his emotions are “labile”, which means he will easily anger, easily frustrate, easily happy, everything exaggerated. 8:30 we have ADL (assisted daily living) in his room with Mary Beth (O.T.). We discuss what happened the night before at dinner when he got upset with me. She told me not to get into battles with him over eating but instead use diversion. Tell him he’s 15 and shouldn’t eat with his fingers. He has to dress himself, which he does with no trouble until it comes to tying his right shoe. He keeps trying it over and over again and can’t get it right so he gets very frustrated. Mary Beth explains that when he gets so frustrated that he can’t function that we should tell him to ask for our help. She tells him and he says, “Please help me”. 9:00 speech in room with Kathy. Counted to 10 and did opposites (she said up, he said down, girl/guy, night/day) very easily. When she had him identify things in his room and asked about the CD player he turned on the song that Taylor Barton wrote for him and listened to it with Kathy. 10:00 P.T./O.T. in the gym and he played Tic Tac Toe with Amy (P.T.). He blocked her several times. They made him use his right hand and he was not happy. He understood the game and did not like losing. He was asked to throw a heavy ball and he had to squat to throw it. Then Mary Beth (O.T.) got out the fencing swords. He did not like that at all, too aggressive. He acted like he didn’t want to hurt her. They had him walk a balance beam (set on the floor) and he did it twice. He also walked on it sideways with help and then he attempted it on his own, he pushed Amy away and didn’t want her to help him. 12:00 back in his room and I arrive for lunch. He said to me, “Where have you been”. I answered and he asked, “What took so long”. He got frustrated eating again because I wouldn’t let him use his fingers. He cried but finally we got through it. When he stood up he told me, “thank you for making me eat” and hugged me. Soon it was time to go back to speech therapy. He did several more opposites and then she asked him to count to 10 loud. He did and then to 20 loudly. Whenever she asked him a question his response was much louder and audible. In the gym for his afternoon session of P.T./O.T. They gave him several size bottles and asked him to take the tops off. He did. They asked him to put them back on and he did. He opened several containers. His fine motor skills are excellent at this point…at least with the left hand. Mary Beth showed him the days of the week printed and asked him what it said. He got very upset when he didn’t know and slammed his fist on the table. They decided that maybe he would do better with a walk and had him walk up and down 5 flights of stairs. His physical abilities are amazing. Mary Beth asked him if he had walked today? “Yes”. Where did you go? He said, “I don’t know, you will have to ask somebody”. He had a very good day in the gym and was tired when he got back in his room. I thought that visits from the kids might slow down when school started but we still had several visitors before dinner. I started a visitors sign up sheet for his friends since we have to limit the people in his room to 3 at a time. I don’t want everyone coming at once and having to wait so I thought it would be best if we set up some kind of schedule. Many of his friends come everyday or at least several times a week and I want all of them to get to spend time with Zack. He likes to have them here and it is good therapy. Dinner arrives about the same time as Scott with our kids (Dylan, Kyle and Logan). Today we decided that Scott would stay with Zack on Wednesday evenings so that I could be home with the kids. It is going to be very hard to leave Zack but Scott needs time at night with him and my other kids need time with me. Zack told Scott, “I love you because of your personal quest”. We don’t know where that came from but Scott really liked it. Scott had his friend Buddy and his brother Tony come up and watch the game with them. Zack way lying in bed quietly until Scott had to leave the room. As soon as Scott left Zack was up walking around, trying to get into stuff, working Buddy and Tony to death. They were grateful when Scott returned and Zack got back in bed. He really moves around a lot and is interested in all the stuff in his room. What a blessing it is to see him up and about when a week ago he was bound to his wheel chair and couldn’t hold his head up. Our awesome God! My ride home with the kids seemed very noisy after my weeks with Zack. We stop at Walgreen’s to pick up a prescription and I run into my neighbor Chuck. He tells me that he has seen kids coming by our house with their cars decorated. He has seen others praying outside Zack’s window. I think it is inevitable that many teenagers will be impacted by what has happened to Zack. I pray that they will realize the importance of the decisions they make today and how those decisions can impact them for the rest of their lives. They have their friend as living proof. I am not sure of Gods reason for choosing Zack to teach these valuable lessons but we are honored all the same. To spare his life and use his recovery in such a powerful way is humbling. Pray tonight that I can relax with my other kids when I have the opportunity (it’s hard because they seem so noisy after quiet nights with Zack). Pray that when Zack is better we can adjust again to a normal life and still feel the presence of God. Pray for Zack’s complete recovery to glorify God.