Wednesday October 19, 2005

Wednesday October 19, 2005 Zack was up at 7:30 to eat breakfast and get dressed. He was ready to go before I was and sat down in the living room to watch TV. On the way to Frazier East he asked me, “Are you sure I have to go to school tomorrow?” (He calls Frazier school). Since Christian Academy was out of school on Thursday and Friday I thought he was telling me that he should be out too. I told him he had to go to therapy even if CAL was out of school and he said, “But what about this? (And took off his hat). They are fixing my head tomorrow.” Then I realized that he was talking about getting his stitches removed. He thought he would not go to therapy because last week when we went to the clinic he didn’t go to Frazier. His memory amazes me sometimes. He can remember something like getting his stitches out on a particular day (even though we hadn’t talked about it in several days) but he can’t remember what he did in therapy just hours ago. I talked to his primary therapist, Leslie in speech and she explained that a number of things were going on. Just like most people Zack is more likely to remember the things that he feels are important (specific activities with friends and medical procedures like the stitches coming out). Right now he doesn’t think therapy is important enough to remember specific details and that is something that they are trying to get across to him. She has been telling him that therapy is more important than school because it is going to help him for the rest of his life. Leslie also explained that he is having “cognitive return” which are the chemicals in the brain are stablelizing. There are many chemical reactions occurring in the brain all the time and when he had his accident it jumbled all those chemicals up. As they stablelize, his memory improves as well as the aphasia and other cognitive skills. The brain is complex and fascinating. I don’t understand how anyone who studies the human body and learns how intricately it is designed, could ever deny a divine creator. There is no way that “chance” could have put us together so intricately. Zack had a session with Dr. Perry (neuro psychologist) in the conference room as part of a group. It was called pragmatics and involves the highest level of communication. They discussed the ways we communicate besides words, like eye contact and body language. He also learned about self monitoring, learning common sense approaches to what is appropriate to say. Pragmatics is taught in a group setting because it enables you to assess yourself (and your deficits) compared to the other people in the group. It is a small group but involved people of different ages so he is able to see how an adult would respond in a particular situation and can evaluate his response accordingly. I feel fortunate that Zack gets to learn this way (it is almost like sending your teenager to etiquette classes). I think this is how the depth of character is developed that Dr. Kraft explained to me. Leslie told me that Zack is a very smart kid and that she is working with him on slowing down (particularly in his handwriting). He is used to school work coming easily for him and his natural habit was to do it quickly. Since he has a more difficult time paying attention (especially to details) he needs to work slower. She said that currently Zack is at a Rancho Scale of 5, 6, 7 swinging back and forth. He doesn’t always know what’s going on and acts inappropriately (5). Other times he still doesn’t quite understand what is going on but he acts appropriately (6). Now they are seeing him more often understand what is going on and has very intentional, appropriate behavior (7). As he recovers (cognitive return) the 5 and 6 behavior will disappear. Leslie said he is doing better every day and is pleased with his progress. She won’t yet discuss when he might be able to return to Christian Academy but she tells him every day that the harder he works in therapy (recognizing the importance of it) the sooner that will be. She said the best thing right now is for him to be involved in the social aspects of school (football game and dances) until he has recovered enough to handle the academic part of high school. Actually I think Zack has the best of both worlds. What teenager wouldn’t want to participate in the fun stuff at school without the pressures of test, reports and home work? Of course that is everyone’s goal…to get him back in school and leading a fulfilling, normal teenage life. Time is a critical factor in recovering from a traumatic brain injury. We are working on God’s timing and have to feel confident that His schedule is perfect. When He is ready for Zack to return to school it will happen. We ask that you continue to pray for healing and complete recovery. When you meat someone who is a hard-line evolutionist send them my way and I will introduce them to one of God’s divine creations.