Friday November 18, 2005

Friday November 18, 2005 Zack was up at 7:00 and we all had French Toast. After he showered he called me into the bathroom and asked if I thought he would look OK if he didn’t wear a hat. His hair has really grown out a lot and it almost covers up the incision and his head wound. I told him he looked fine so he skipped the hat for the first time since his surgery. As we rode to Frazier East he reminded me that tonight he was going to church and then that other church (more on that later). He also said that Avery had asked him to go to the movies on Saturday. When we arrived he told me he loved me as he got out of the car. I told him I would be back to pick him up and he reminded me not to be late. His morning speech session with Megan worked on word retrieval, attention and memory. Word retrieval is what helps him with the aphasia which is still very apparent at times. He had Fitness with Erin and he rode the bike for 25 minutes and then they had races. He really enjoys the physical stuff, it’s much easier for him than the cognitive work. He met with Dr. Perri (psychologist) and they talked about school and his upcoming Neuro Psyche exam. Without any coaxing from Dr Perri, Zack commented to him, “I’m going to have to repeat my Junior year”. He is beginning to realize he has missed a lot of school and at this point it would be very difficult to make it up over the summer. As important as it is to him to return to school, he has a great attitude. Dr. Perri said he wasn’t too upset about it except that all the “hot girls” were in the Junior class.
He had another speech session after lunch with Leslie and they worked on grouping things into categories (more aphasia) and slowing down. In occupational therapy with Scott they wrote down calendar events and focused on attention to details, impulsivity, sustained attention and visual scanning. When I arrived to pick him up I had a scheduled meeting with Dr Perry. He said that Zack’s team of therapist feels it would be in his best interest to postpone his neuro psyche exam (scheduled for 11-28 and 29). They feel that he still struggles with the aphasia part of his injury and that the verbal portion of the test would be difficult. In this test he would be asked to describe something and there would be a specific word or two that the examiner was looking for in his answer. Although Zack might know exactly what the object was and how to describe it, he might struggle trying to retrieve the appropriate word for it. His therapist all agree that given more time he would do much better on the exam and the results would be more accurate. The exam is used to put together an IEP (individual education plan) and it is important that it truly reflects Zack’s abilities. Since he has to take the neuro psyche exam before he can return to school, it looks like that might not happen as we had hoped. Dr Perri feels the end of February is more realistic. It is very important that when Zack returns to school that he can be successful or he may get frustrated and give up or become depressed. He has such a good attitude right now and the potential for doing well in school that we don’t want to jeopardize that by returning him too soon. Dr. Perri also told me that Zack seems to be running out of steam in the afternoon and they feel like he may need a little more downtime when he gets home in the afternoon. He is always ready for a nap but sometimes friends come by after school and he either doesn’t get a nap or it is cut short. They felt it would be better for Zack’s therapy if we stuck to my original plan of no visitors before dinner. Even if Zack doesn’t take a nap they said it is important for him to just relax, chill out, not be over stimulated so his brain has time to absorb all of the day’s cognitive work. As much as I love his friends support I will have to ask them to wait until after dinner before visiting. Zack came into Dr Perri’s office before we were finished so we discussed the new visiting schedule and how important it was that he takes his Amantadine in the afternoon. Two times this week he forgot to take it and it is the medication that stimulates his brain, helps him focus and helps with the healing process. Dr Perri asked Zack if he was playing the game in the kitchen and Zack said “Yes, I won”. Dr Perri replied, “What do you mean you won, yesterday you couldn’t get past two”. Zack insisted that he could do it all the way through and wanted to show us. This is a maze in a box with 13 holes strategically placed. You have to maneuvers a ball through the maze without falling into a hole. Sure enough Zack showed us how he could get it all the way to the last hole…twice. Dr Perri was amazed (he said he doesn’t get past 4) and I wasn’t even going to try. We ran into Scott and I told him that Zack could get to the end and he said he had watched him do it earlier. Apparently Zack practices during lunch because this is one of the tools they use to get you ready to drive again. When we arrived home Zack went to bed and got over an hour nap before Andrew, Trey and Tiffany arrived. They played a few games of pool and the boys helped me carry up the Christmas decorations from the basement. I told them about our need to be sure Zack gets downtime after therapy and that we would have to stick to the original visiting plan. Once they left Zack said he was going back to bed until the pizza arrived. He went to Battle of the Bands at Southeast Christian Church tonight and then he was going to Hurstbourne Baptist Church for the Youth group “lock in”. This would be the first night away from me since he came home and it was very difficult to let him go but Trey’s Mom was going to be a chaperone and I felt that church activities would be the best place to try this out. As I put up Christmas decoration I would run across things that needed to be put away to make room for all my stuff. I needed to find a more permanent home for the box of cards and letters that we have received since Zack’s accident. I went through and read some of them and within minutes I was in tears. I wanted to read the heartfelt words of hope and encouragement to Zack but he wasn’t here. It brought back so many feelings of those days when we weren’t sure he was going to live. I opened the t-shirt (torn and bloody) that he was wearing that night and remembered how I had carried it (much like a security blanket) those first days at University. Then it comforted me, I could smell Zack on it and felt close to him. Tonight it did the same thing…brought him close to me but also reminded me of how we nearly lost him. I could only read a few cards and letters because it was a little too emotional but I will cherish each word forever. Thanks to all the people who comforted us with words of hope and continue to care for us today. You will never know the peace that we feel knowing that Gods family was there to shed tears with us and now can share in our joy. We are blessed beyond belief, not just to have Zack with us, happy and healing, but to know the greatest love God showed to us through His children. Thank you. Please pray that I can sleep some tonight and Zack will enjoy himself but return home safely. Continue praying for complete recovery so that we may be a testimony to Gods glorious power!