I'm sorry that its been a week. I'll probably go back and add in some updates because there were some pretty memorable things that happened. Like on Thursday Dad passed his swallowing test so he was able to have regular liquids and pureed food. He did a really good job eating even when it didn't look or taste great. The one day when his aide walked away he said, "I kept telling her it was good but really it was blah (that's a gagging noise)." Today my mom said that they switched him to chopped food and he couldn't get enough of the roast beef they gave him. It's got to be great to finally have real food!
As for today, Dad is amazing. The (positive) change in him each day is is really remarkable. On the way to Magee tonight we got a text from mom, "Concert starting soon! Staring Jimmy Eckert!!!" We were a little confused but then when we walked onto his floor we heard the music then around the corner we saw my Dad singing karaoke to a room full of people. Wow it was pretty awesome because not to long ago he couldn't even get out of bed. He was really entertaining - singing, dancing, cracking jokes...it was great! He was really happy and having a great time...My mom told us that this all started because Daddy woke up after a nap thinking that he was supposed to sing tonight with a group. He brushed his hair (numerous times) wanted to change his shirt so he looked good then started to panic about where the group was practicing. We walked him around the halls to show him that no one was singing and one of the nurses heard him say he wanted to sing ~ one of the nurses aides had a karaoke in her car so she went and got it. (Gabrielle posted some of his videos on facebook if you want to watch them, I cant get the on the website though so I'm sorry if you can't see them.)
Afterwards he was a little bit upset that he didn't remember all of the words but we tried to tell him that that was ok because he really did good with most of the songs. (Actually he probably never really knew them - he was always making up words to songs :) He is much more aware of his ability to do things and remember things, which is a very good development but very frustrating for him and a little upsetting for us (until we think about how far he has come). Like today he didn't want to stand up because he wasn't balancing well so when the therapist asked he said, that he wasn't standing like this because he wasn't falling and bopping his head again.
Tonight we met with a mentor family who has been through a very similar situation. It was helpful to see that they are all doing well (its been almost 3 years) and that Bill has really come a long was from laying in the hospital bed with his family not knowing what was coming next. He did have to do outpatient therapy for a while but he can do most of the things he did before his accident. It was a little hard to hear that there have been some permanent changes in his personality but they were minor and not bad changes just a little different. Bill got to meet my dad and his comment when he came back to us was, "Well he sure has a sense of humor!" He does and we are too - laughter is whats going to pull us through.
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