Josh's Accident and Situation

September 4, 2017 10:30 pm

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Today started early - at the EMERGENCY ROOM no less. But it wasn't Josh. Mary has been sick for a week and hasn't slept for three nights - burning throat and ears, runny nose, coughing. It's pain all night. So we went to the hospital at 4:30 this morning. Mary thought she had strep, but it turned out to be a bacterial infection. She was given 2 prescriptions, but still feels miserable tonight.

While Mary slept in a bit, Paul went to the hospital and helped Josh eat breakfast. After breakfast, Paul and Josh played some educational games on Mary's iPad and then Josh was insistent on a nap. He was out for quite a while.

Otherwise, today was a day of options. Craig had a Labor Day picnic: polish sausage, green beans, watermelon, potato salad, Sun Chips, Lay's Oven Baked chips (thanks RJ), homemade Rice Krispies treats (they were made with oil instead of butter and a marshmallow substitute, so they tasted gross), and lemonade. There were other things served that Josh didn't choose: veggie lasagna, baby back ribs, soda pop, etc.

One of the many changes that's happened to Josh since the accident is that he can't open his mouth very wide. Even with the sausage cut in half, the hot dog was still too big for him to eat. So Paul had to cut it up into small bites for him.

And he had more options at the petting zoo: sheep, goats, ponies, horses, alpacas, dogs, chickens, ferrets. We're not sure Josh really liked the petting zoo, but his favorite animal was the rabbit, Boris. Because the owner thought it looked cool, he had the bunny's name tattooed in his ear. (You can probably see it on the picture below.) We think that was a horrible thing for them to do. Poor Boris.

And their was air hockey, of course.

Then Kinect. Josh should be moving forward and backward like Paul is in the video, but he just stands in one place. Paul, of course, was hamming it up for the game's photos.

We even snuck in a little Foosball, just for old-time's sake.

This was a genuine smile.

Josh faked this smile because Mary asked him to for the picture.

After all this exercise, Josh was ready for a SECOND nap. So we went back to the room and Josh slept for about an hour and a half. Paul was out for about 30 minutes. Mary stayed awake until Joshua woke up, but she was too sick to stay. She went back to our apartment (and lost her voice ... completely!). Paul and Josh had dinner together and then went walking. They ended up going to the apartment (Josh's choice) to surprise Mary with a visit. After close to an hour of watching American Ninja Warrior together, Paul walked Josh back to the hospital, gave him a shower, tucked him into bed, and watched the pilot of The Office. Josh even laughed once.

Josh continues to make slow progress. He is more interactive in his talking, even asking questions at times. His eating is much improved over just a few days ago. He eats almost entirely on his own now (we used to have to give him bites) and he is eating quite a bit more as well. At 5' 10' and 128 pounds, this is a good thing. We still have a long ways to go. Dr. Makley is back tomorrow so we'll have to reevaluate the whole fluid on the brain/shunt setting thing and see what's next.