Sunday June 18, 2006

Sunday June 18, 2006 Zack wrote his Dad a letter for Father’s Day telling him how much he appreciated how Scott was always there for him in the hospital after the wreck. He said “you set a beginning for my whole life”, “have told me very good Christian things to do”, I want to end up being like you when I grow up” and “help me when I am picking a wife”. It was the best present he could have given Scott and we feel very lucky to have Zack with us. It doesn’t take much for us to remember how terrified we were less than a year ago, wondering if Zack would live or die. We experience blessings everyday when we see him able to ordinary things that one time we thought would be impossible. Saturday he participated in Rollin’ on the River, a fundraiser for the Brain Injury Association of KY. He was awarded a gift certificate for lunch at Primo Restaurant for raising the most amount of money $1690. His name went into a drawing for the Grand Prize and everyone was elated when he won the Madone 5.2 Bicycle (the same one Lance Armstrong won his last Tour de France). He ran 5 miles in 45 minutes with Amy, his physical therapist from Frazier Rehab. She was amazed that he was able to push himself so hard and then eat 4 pieces of pizza after the run. I met several people associated with the organization that didn’t know me but knew all about Zack. We have committed to be more involved so we can help others going through similar experiences with brain injury.
About a week ago I received a phone call from Lisa Hobbs (her son Addison was on Zack’s baseball team and they have gone to Christian Academy together for years). A friend of their family had been in a car accident and was seriously injured. Whitney was 16 and suffered a traumatic brain injury (among other things) similar to Zack. Lisa asked if I would speak to Whitney’s Mom about where to send her daughter when she was released from the hospital. The next day I met her Mom and Grandmother at Frazier Rehab after they had toured the nursing home where the hospital wanted to send Whitney. I showed them Zack’s photo album and shared his story of miraculous recovery. We discussed therapy and medication and they got to speak with Mary Beth (Zack’s occupational therapist). It was heartwarming for me to be able to comfort another mother who felt inadequate as she struggled with decisions on how to help her daughter. I felt an instant bond with Whitney, her mother and grandmother and know that Zack will be anxious to meet them as well.
Zachary is one special child of God, touched by His healing hand, which continues to “guide him on paths of righteousness for His namesake”. We are still breathing Psalm 23 although now we are out of the “Shadow of Death” and the “anoint my head with oil” has taken place by proxy in the hands of a surgeon. God has carried Zack very far these last 11 months but we know He is not through with him. The deficits that Zack still deals with every day may not completely disappear but we are comforted in the consolation of the new spiritual soul that has developed. God has given Zack an attitude of gratitude and the ability to recognize his deficits and not be too frustrated by them. He can laugh at himself when he uses the wrong words for things (yes the aphasia is still with us). He
circles the words that he doesn’t understand in his daily reading and that is when we really see the impact of his injury. Words like persuasive, elaborate, consolation, literary, solidarity hoax and reconcile make reading difficult for this one-time Honors English student. Reading is still much slower than it used to be but he is determined to work at it every day. His short term memory still suffers. He can’t remember people’s names or to take his pill (Excelon, a memory drug given to Alzheimer’s patients, which is the only one he takes now) but thanks me when I remind him. He has jumped into the pool twice this month with his cell phone in his pocket (Scott has done a great job with getting sympathy from Sprint). Like every teenager his cell phone is one of his prized possessions so he determined on his own that it would be safer in his backpack instead of his pocket. One of the deficits that we know he will live with the rest of his life is the “field cut” in his vision. Vision therapy has made him aware of the “blind spot” and taught him how to compensate for it but there are still times when it impacts him severely. A few days ago he was driving with me (he always grabs my keys and gets behind the wheel) and narrowly missed hitting a car parked on the right side of the road (his filed cut is on the right). He explained he didn’t see it until I started screaming. He pulled over and we switched seats as I reminded him he had to focus on the right side to move things out of his blind spot. I felt like I could throw up, not just because we nearly had an accident, but because I know it will always be an issue for him. There is no surgery or glasses that can correct his field cut, he just has to practice focusing to the right. We decided to get a picture of something (Zack suggested a pretty girl) and tape it to the windshield on the right so he would be reminded to focus there. I hope to be able to continue more vision therapy once the insurance issues get straightened out. He apologized profusely for “his bad driving day” and once my stomach settled down we switched places again (you have to get back on the horse that throws you). I don’t get mad at him, he can’t help it. I sometimes feel sorry for him but never voice those concerns. Zack has a great attitude about it all. He tells me I should buy his new eyes and when I explain that there is nothing wrong with his eyes, it is in his brain, he laughs and tells me to get him a new brain. Of course we would never do that even if we could. We weigh the options and feel lucky. An imperfect brain…a renewed heart for God. Visual difficulties…a spiritual revival. Wayward…redeemed. We know that one day God will restore Zack fully. It may not be this side of heaven but it will surely happen to His glory! Please continue to pray for complete recovery.

Thursday May 31, 2006

Wednesday May 31, 2006 Zack has made remarkable progress the last 7 months. He started outpatient therapy at Frazier East on October 10th of last year. At that time he was barely reading at a Kinde3rgarden level and struggling every minute with aphasia (the ability to recall the names of very common objectws). I can remember asking him to name three vegetables and he couldn’t name even one. He had just as much difficulty recalling the names of everyone including his friends. Reading comprehension was out of grasp. Now he is reading at a high school level although his comprehension is better with 6th grade material. He has developed his own unique ways of remember words or describing what word he is trying to recall. In every area he has improved drastically, faster than anyone expected and with a positive attitude. We never experienced any depression but chose to keep him on Lexapro while he was in school (even though it was only 3 days a week) just in case he got overwhelmed. His last day at Christian Academy was Thursday (he was delighted that he didn’t have to take any finals). His last day on Lexapro was Friday May 26th. He was on the lowest dose but we will still monitor his behavior for signs of frustration. In many ways he is a typical teenage boy. Noticing every cool car and pointing out the ones he feels are acceptable for his first car. Always listening to music (even though his taste in music has greatly expanded) and constantly on the lookout for “clean females” (pretty girls). The hormones definitely haven’t been affected by his brain injury because in every situation he is pointing out the good-looking ladies and is not shy about talking to them (or asking for a phone number). Today we met with Dr Perri (psychologist) and Leslie (speech therapy) to plan out Zack’s summer. It is important to his continued recovery for him to remain cognitively active through summer and to insure he will be ready for school in the fall. I arrived slightly earlier than expected and found everyone (staff and patients) in the community room having a little party for Zack. They had made him a card, which everyone had written a personal note. One patient wrote “ meeting you opened my mind to what I can achieve”. The blackboard said “Good Luck Zack” and they were celebrating with a cookie cake. Zack was surprised and I was humbled to see how fond everyone was of him. Many had signed his sponsorship form and donated to the “Rollin’ on the River” event to benefit the Brain Injury Association of KY (BIAK). He was quite pleased with the money he had collected with the promise to run 5 miles. After everyone had left we met with Dr Perri and Leslie who reiterated just how much progress Zack had made, how determined he was and how his positive attitude made him a pleasure to work with (it didn’t hurt that he was also funny and quite entertaining). We discussed that Zack needed to continue to work on his language deficit, which is really the only obstacle left for him to conquer. This would encompass reading, comprehension, speaking and writing. Carol Britton (Christian Academy tutor) has put together a summer program for him that involves him reading daily (including 10 minutes out loud) and writing short summaries (about 10 sentences) three times a week. He would also continue Rhythmic Writing and complete an algebra worksheet weekly. Carol has also agreed to continue to work with Zack one-on-one during the summer (thankfully I won’t have to check that algebra sheet). Leslie would like to continue to work with Zack but logistically it becomes difficult to carve out only two hours, twice a week and she agrees that we have put together a pretty full program with Carol. Frankly she told us that she would miss Zack and although she is delighted with his improvements she hates to see him go. Dr Perri has become a friend to Zack and they talk about everything. He would like to monitor his withdraw from the Lexapro but agrees that we are capable of detecting changes in his emotional state. It is clear that they would like to see him continue outpatient therapy but also obvious that it is time to see if Zack can handle this next phase of recovery without them. He reminded them that he was a great student prior to his accident and is serious about getting good grades in school so he intends to keep working hard through the summer. We discussed that brain injuries and learning disabilities are different. Typically someone with a learning disability always has that deficit but with brain injury you are constantly changing as you recover. The key is to adapt our summer program, the ways we have him read and write, to his changing cognitive ability. Dr. Perri told us that the IEP (Individual Education Plan) would also have to be updated quarterly once Zack was back in school for the same reason. We lingered making small talk and it was obvious that no one wanted to say good-bye. Zack promised he would be back for visits and have lunch with them. He took a picture of the two of them on his cell phone, we all hugged and he walked out the door…a graduate of Frazier East. Zack felt very liberated, another milestone reached. Zack has been in therapy a long time and is anxious to “let summer be summer”. He fully understands the importance of staying with the program that Carol developed so he can be ready for school. We had our review with Dr Weinberg (Vision therapy) Wednesday May 17th. He explained that many of Zack’s vision deficits had disappeared and the remaining issues had improved drastically. He would also like to work with Zack through the summer because he thinks he could continue to help him but we have to get insurance issues straightened out. Zack’s field cut (blind spot) is more apparent now that he is driving. He has to train himself to focus on the right side, shift his eyes in that direction, in order to see what is in his blind spot. Continuing with vision therapy will help with retraining his brain to take in information in that area. However, until the insurance issues get straightened out we are taking a break from vision therapy.
Our interview on Wave 3 News at 6:00 with Carol Britton last Friday did not go as planned. Wave failed to communicate with those involved that we were coming so we ended up being interviewed by Kevin Harnett after he did the weather at 7:00. He didn’t know much about why we were there so unless you were paying attention (and didn’t sneeze) you would have missed the whole thing. It wasn’t a wasted trip for us however. We had planned that while downtown we would stop in a Frazier Rehab and drop off one of the Rollin’ on the River Sponsorship Forms so that the therapist and nursing staff could support Zack. As we talked with the aides at the nurses station there was a man there listening. He asked me questions and was very interested in Zack. It turns out he was the father of a 3 year old little boy who was in a car accident. In addition to a brain injury he had a broken pelvis and swollen spinal cord in his neck. He had been in a coma for a week at the hospital in Tennessee where they are from. His Dad fought to get him to Frazier for therapy once he was stable. They have no family or friends here and didn’t know what to expect as he recovered. Zack was a great encouragement. We explained how badly Zack had been hurt and how quickly he had recovered. Zack told the boy’s father that it had only been a short time since they had been at Frazier and he was sure his son would be OK. He asked him if he believed in God and told him to pray and his son would get better. We invited him to church on Sunday, gave our phone number and promised to come back frequently to visit them. Saturday night Zack asked me if he had called about going to church and that was the first question he asked again Sunday morning. Ten minutes later Fue (he is Hawaiian) called and we made arrangements to pick him up. I knew that he would be overwhelmed at the size of Southeast Christian Church and a bit uncomfortable since all he had was jeans and a t-shirt. I told him that it didn’t matter and we were delighted that he was with us. We arrived early enough to give him a tour of the new Media Center where we ran into Dave Stone. He asked who our friend was and we explained the situation with his son. Dave told me to be sure to put him on the hospital visiting list As we proceeded to the sanctuary we introduced Fue to many others who promised to pray for his son. After the service Scott and Zack took him to lunch before taking him back to the hospital. Scott talked with him for a long time about his background and his faith (he became a Christian 4 years ago). We feel blessed to be able to help his family while they travel a road that we know very well. Although his son’s brain injury is not nearly as bad as Zack’s was, they do not have the support of family and friends here. Zack said he “loves that little boy” and we will be sure to encourage them and provide the information on recovery through our experience. Ironically his son “Alex” has the same team (Dr Mook, Mary Beth and Amy) that Zack had while he was there. We ask that you pray for Alex and Fue that they will receive the peace that passes all understanding through faith that God is the great physician. Helping other patients that are going through the same experience that we did is the mission field God has placed us in. Zack always wants to go to Frazier Rehab and University Hospital and see if there is anyone there who “needs him”. He is never shy about asking if they believe in God and usually brings up the subject of prayer before I do. He wants to give back and says it makes him feel good to help other patients.
We step into the next phase of his recovery. Working without Leslie or Dr Perri to fall back on. Maintaining a positive attitude without the aid of an anti-depressant. Being an encouragement to other patients. We will listen for God’s direction and cling to the promise in scripture that He will be a light onto our path. We ask that you continue to pray for Zack’s complete recovery so he can be an encouragement to others for the Glory of God!

Note: Come cheer Zack on June 17th at the Rollin’ on the River Event to benefit the BIAK (more info to follow).