Friday September 30, 2005

Friday September 30, 2005 Zack got up when I arrived and ate, showered, shaved and said he wanted to go swimming. I told him I doubt that could happen but we could ask. 9:00 Speech with Kathy and she decides to take him down to the department to work on the computer. He is shown a picture and three words to chose from. He missed the first one but after the got the hang of it he did better. Aphasia still apparent. 9:30 P.T. with Brenda (Amy goofing off for the weekend) and Zack decides to get on the treadmill. He does a fast pace for 20 minutes and everyone keeps coming by and calling him “Hollywood” because they have seen him on the news. He has a quick nap before O.T.
With Mary Beth. He does the lightboard (Mary Beth always lets him chose what he wants to do) and he improves his time and number of lights he hits each time. Next it’s time to play golf and he has several holes to choose from so he tells Mary Beth which one he will put it in (he’s such a show off). Mary Beth talks to him about his surgery coming up, about going home or going to Dallas. He tells her he is ready to go home. Back in the room Zack is ready for a nap but Scott shows up with lunch from Tumbleweed. Zack enjoyed lunch with Dad but hoped there was still time for him to take a nap. 1:30 and we head to University Hospital for our PreOp appointment. We have to stop and visit with Linda (our prayer warrior) at the information desk at University. On the second floor we see other staff that remember us from our first visit here, including Dr Munchnick. He is amazed at Zack’s progress and tells us he will be taking care of Zack when he returns next week. As we wait and fill out paperwork people approach us and say they saw us on the news. Zack gives blood and we talk to the anesthesiologist. We stop at McDonald for a shake on our way back. When we arrive at his room Tiffany is waiting for us and goes down to O.T. Mary Beth puts him on the computer and does a memory game and really impresses me with how well he does. Then they move to another program where he has to identify objects and that’s when the aphasia runs rampant. His attitude is great and he even laughs at some of his own wrong answers. There is no frustration, which I think amazes them (and alarms the psychologist). He easily uses the computer because he is a child of the technology age. He instinctively knows how to get out of the programs and sign off. When we get back to the room Zack informs Tiffany that she can stay but he is getting in bed. Before long my friend Teri arrives with Katie, Kirsten and Allison and they coax Zack out of bed to dance. Then we get the balls out and play hot potato with 5 people and 5 balls. Everyone is laughing and at one part Zack is laughing so hard his sides start hurting. His dinner arrives and everyone says goodbye. After he eats he says we have to go for a walk outside. My feet are killing me (I’ve walked a lot in these boots today) but I gladly comply. We walk around the building and talk about his upcoming surgery, which doesn’t seem to alarm him. He is very self-conscious about taking his helmet off in front of people now because he says his hair looks bad. I told him he wouldn’t have to worry about that much longer because they would be shaving all that hair off. We talked about who we could get to come and shave it all off the day before because the surgeons would only shave the side they were working on. He thought it was a good idea for us to take care of it ourselves. We get back in his room and he jumps in bed for an hour nap. My friend Kelly from Nashville, Dana and Shane arrive and we talk Zack into getting up. He decides it time for McDonalds so we walk there taking the outside route. My friends have not seen Zack since he was at University Hospital so they are pleasantly surprised at how well he is doing. He is his normal polite, charming self. When we arrive back at his room Kaitlyn and her family are waiting for us. Zack shows my friends how to play our version of hot potato with 5 balls and before long we are all laughing, even those just watching. Zack is able to teach even adults how to have fun with simple games. It’s hard not to get into it when he is obviously having so much fun. I will miss him so much if he goes to Dallas. We still don’t know if we will get approval from our insurance company. Sarah told us late this afternoon that The Centre had not submitted their report and request to the insurance company. Now it looks like we will have to wait until Monday to know whether we go to Dallas or home. Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 (we have to be there at 6:00 AM ouch) on Wed Oct 5th at University. By then we have to know so arrangements can be made, wither with an airline or at home. We wait, hope and pray. That is what we have to do now. Please pray with us for news one way or another. Continue to pray for Zack’s complete recovery.