Saturday, September 10, 2005

Saturday September 10, 2005 Zack got up very early this morning to use the bathroom. He asked Kendra (night nurse) if she was going to entertain him. They decided that it was too early so Zack went back to bed. I arrived and got him up for breakfast. He picked out clothes to wear and we went for a walk. Mrs. Funderberk arrived and we went to the conference room, where we were told Zack would participate in recreational therapy at 10:00. Mrs. Funderberk worked with him on spelling his name using colorful stickers. He knew how to spell his first and last name and needed little help. She then asked him to write different letters using his finger on the table. He got them all right.
Madison, the therapy dog arrived, and several other patients had joined us in the conference room. Zack enjoyed petting the dog and watching her tricks for a while but then he got obviously bored. He decided we needed to leave and go back to his room to wait for speech therapy. Then I had the challenge of keeping him out of his bed for the next 15 minutes so he wouldn’t fall asleep before we had to leave. They came to weigh him and he guessed he would weigh 140#. He was close, 136.4# so we decided he needed to eat a piece of Key Lime pie. 11:00 Speech with Jill (Kathy off on the weekend). She shows him 2 picture cards and they hide them. She tells him that she is testing his memory and that later she will ask him where they hid the cards. Then she showed him 2 pictures and a word. He had to identify the picture that went with the word. He got all of them correct. Yesterday he missed at least half. This exercise requires some reading, much like sight words in Kindergarten but the words are harder (spoon, flower). Then she would show him pictures of objects and he had to tell her what they were. He got stuck on the letter “W” and said that for everything. Once she would give him a few clues he would get it right. She showed him a picture of a TV asked him what it was used for. He said, “you light it up for viewing”. Not exactly what everyone would say but still correct. Sometimes he takes the more difficult way to explain something. They did sentence completion-using opposites (I have a brother and a sister) and they were too easy for him (100%). Then it was time to find the cards she hid. The first one he remembered the general area but had to search for a while to find it. The 2nd one he found right away. I thought Zack would want a nap before lunch but he said he wanted to go somewhere. We decided to walk to McDonalds for cheeseburgers. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the walk (except I had to keep stopping to pull his jeans up, something I want to do to every teenage boy I see). When we get back to the room he decides now he will take a nap and then he will eat lunch when he wakes up. Tiffany shows up and we decide to go down to the gym and play Chinese Checkers. While we are there they tell us Zack has O.T. at 2:30 so Angela (Mary Beth is off this weekend) comes to get us. She puts him on the light board and he does very good the first time but we can tell he is tired. Angela had Zack play Tiffany in several games of Shut the Box which helps him with his math skills. They tie after 3 games. After therapy Zack wants to take a walk and we go down one floor to Jewish and visit Kathy Cummins (Averi’s Mom) who is in for appendicitis. Now we have another place to go on our many walks. When we get back to the room several of his friends come to visit. He plays Velcro ball with Dale and discusses what sports he might play next year. He decides swimming would be good and said he would like to wear Speedo’s. Then he said he could wear Speedo’s and play golf. We decide that would draw a lot of attention. Several guys from his basketball team arrive and we play a fast game of “hot potato” this time with five people and five balls. Zack loves it and laughs when ever someone drops the ball. Then they all pause and pray for him. When they are done Zack says, “Amen. You rock a person’s body”. He understands and has the perfect way of putting things sometimes.
Scott came to spend time alone with Zack while I took the girls to the ethnic festival at St. Michaels. Scott took him on a long walk outside over to Norton’s Hospital and down to the cafeteria to get a late night snack. They come back, Zack gets a shower and gets in bed for the night. I enjoy my evening with the girls but can’t help missing Zack. I miss Dylan too although I know he is having fun with his friend Connor Slade. Dylan has become more responsible these last two months. He keeps his room clean and gets his homework done. This has changed him but I have seen lived out in him that saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Dylan is stronger in many ways. Zack will be stronger in different ways. I spoke at his school about the depth of character and appreciation of life that this experience will leave with Zack. We can believe what others may have a hard time understanding. We have to stand on God’s promises for at times it is all we have. 2 Cor. 4:17-18 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” We pray that the Lord will bless us with a complete recovery for Zack, but we know that he will restore him perfectly in eternity. Please pray that others will look at Zack and see the goodness the Lord has given us already.