Thursday December 8, 2005

Thursday December 8, 2005 Zack was up at his usual time, ate, showered, dressed and was ready to go before I was. He took my keys and went to the car so he could listen to some music. We were nearly to the freeway when I realized that Zack had not taken his medication, we both forgot. We drove back to the house and he took his pills and then we headed to Frazier East. On the way we talked about Laura, the girl who was in the accident with him and who met him at church last night. She had called him earlier in the week and he invited her to the Junior Christmas party at Southeast Christian. He was asking me about her because he didn’t remember her at all. We looked her picture up in his photo album (she had come to visit him once at Frazier Rehab) and talked about the accident. She met him at Southeast and gave him a letter saying how hard it was for her to see his condition in the hospital but how amazed she was at his recovery. In therapy they worked more on cognitive issues (categorizing, word retrieval, organization) and vision (dealing with his perception problems). It started snowing and Scott was worried about getting him to the dentist to get fitted for a new retainer (never found the last one). We called and got his appointment moved up an hour so that they could make it home before the streets got bad. When I got home we ate dinner and then Zack went downstairs to play pool with Dylan and Kyle. A few times he came upstairs to tell me he was looking forward to dancing at the prom with Tiffany on Saturday. He reminded me that we had to get his clothes ready. He appears to be very much a normal teenage boy, in love with music, interested in girls, except that there are many words he searches for in order to express himself. It embarrasses Scott that when he can’t think of the word for something Zack substitutes “crap”. “Where’s the crap that I put on my lips?” (Chap Stick) “I need that thing to take the crap off of my face” (razor). It’s not the nicest word but it could be worse (I’ve grown use to it I guess because it doesn’t bother me). When I mention that he should find another word to use besides “crap” he always says O.K. but then “crap” just naturally comes out. He started using it more often when we stopped letting him get by with sign language to express what he wanted. It is much the same when he calls people “G” because he can’t remember their name. When he meets someone that he truly doesn’t know (but has probably met before) he always shakes their hand and calls them “Buddy”. It’s safe, he doesn’t have to try to guess their name and people think he really remembers them. He really is pretty good at expressing himself and socializing without too much attention on his deficits. And he is basically happy, genuinely happy, maybe tired but content, wanting to go back to school with his friends but still cooperative in therapy. As the snow falls tonight I dread the morning. Not that I am scared to drive in the snow but that all kids thoughts turn to sleigh riding when they see it snowing. I know sooner or later Zack is going to want to go and that is definitely something that we can’t let happen. I visualize him soaring down a hill with a big smile on his face and then hitting head on into a tree. We can not risk another head injury, not even a little one. Of course snow skiing is off limits (which Zack really enjoyed last winter) but sledding seems so harmless. Dylan and Kyle will ask to go and I know Zack’s friends will be planning a trip to the hills at the park. As God blankets the hills with beautiful white flakes I will be praying for the sun to shine brightly and melt them before the kids can get their boots on. I will have to ask Zack’s therapist to discuss the risks of another head injury and the danger of sledding. I need someone else of authority to help get the point across. I wonder about ice skating? Please pray that Zack will understand why he can’t go sledding and that it will not run his whole winter. Pray that we will be firm in our decision. Please continue to pray for complete recovery as a testimony of the mercy and power of God.