August 28, 2017 8:50 pm

NEWS FLASH: ICE CREAM MACHINE DOWN AGAIN!

It was great to see Josh again after being away for three days. We were both surprised at how well he is doing -- more verbal, more interactive, more aware. And this with his shunt set at seven, which is still very high.

Josh was at Swedish Hospital all morning. He was finally discharged at 2:00 so we got to Craig Hospital at 2:20, and he had a 2:30 ST class. Every Monday and Friday in Speech they ask Josh (and all their patients) to answer the same 10 questions (with the same three multiple choice answers):

  • What town are you in (Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles)
  • What month is it (January, August, November)
  • What day is it
  • What day of the week is it
  • What year is it (1992, 2003, 2017)
  • It is closest to which of these times of day
  • Where are you (hospital, office building, hotel) - he has never got this one correct
  • What is the name of the hospital (Mercy Hospital, Aurora Hospital, Craig Hospital)
  • Why are you here (motorcycle accident, ski accident, bike accident)
  • What kind of injury do you have (broken ankle, leg fracture, brain injury)

Last Monday when Josh was asked these questions, he scored 8/10. Today he also scored 8/10. The theory is that if he scores 8/10 three consecutive times, he no longer has post-traumatic amnesia. This exam usually takes Josh about 15 minutes, but most of his answers were "quick" replies this time, so it took only about 6 minutes.

After that, the therapist showed Josh a flip chart of pictures. She had time to go through only 11 of the pictures. He got 3 correct: house, whistle, and comb. He got 8 incorrect. The last picture was a toothbrush. She showed him the picture and asked, "What is this?" He answered, "Play martian with a rake."

PT came at 3:00 and walked around with him. He did well and they have approved him for an off-campus pass once his parents are trained on transfers, although he is not allowed to be in a car yet. We can start taking him off campus on Thursday.

Comments

  1. Donna BeecroftAugust 30, 2017 at 12:48 PM

    I'm glad you're home. He does much better when you are there.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
July 12, 2017  8:31 PM Oops, he did it again. Josh decannulated himself last night (that means he pulled his trach out ... again). When the nurse asked if he needed pain medication, he said, "It's fine."  (Josh 2.0's first words: "It's fine." So fitting; so Josh.) He was breathing great without the trach so I was hoping they would leave it out, but they inserted a new trach, which they completely occluded. So, basically, it's like he doesn't have a trach in. The plan is to remove the trach completely tomorrow. (If you are confused about why they replaced the trach with an occluded trach that they plan to remove tomorrow, join the club.) Unlike yesterday, Josh spent most of the day awake ... and bored. Very bored. Josh did a great job of walking today. He walked a long distance: 500-600 feet. He had to rest about 2/3 of the way through. For his work friends: he has that same toe-walking swagger he used to have. Later in the afternoon the O...
Read more
Image
August 14, 2017 10:05 pm The day did not begin well at Swedish. When Mary arrived at 7:30 in the morning, Josh was covered in feces. She asked some nurses to help her fix the problem, but they didn't come to help. So after about 10 minutes she went to the nurse's station and announced, "I am giving my son a shower. It violates your rules at this hospital, but I'm going to do it anyway. If you want to send a nurse to help me, you can do that." Then she walked back to the room and gave Josh a shower. A nurse did show up not too far into the process. After the shower, Mary dressed Josh in regular street clothes. No more Seymour Hiney gowns! Getting out of Swedish Hospital on time was a bit of a challenge since the doctor forgot to complete the paperwork before he left, but we got to Craig just before Josh's first class at 9:00. And it was FANTASTIC! I mean, most 7-year olds could out-perform him, but he did great! When the OT saw Josh last, she asked him ...
Read more
Image
August 31, 2017 9:00 pm Happy last day of August! It started rough. Josh threw up a lot this morning. Morning sickness, I guess. 😜 As it turned out, the MRI people couldn't fit Josh in their schedule until 8:00 tonight, and since Makley leaves at 7:00, he wouldn't be able to look through the scans anyway. So we cancelled the MRI and agreed that if I think Josh needs to be seen, the on-call doctor will get a quick CT scan and the results of it will determine the shunt setting. Perfect! In ST, Josh was given a paper that had drawings of 12 fruits on it and he had to name as many as he could. He named 8. Then he was given a paper that had drawings of 12 vegetables on it and he had to name as many as he could. He named 5. In fairness to Josh, magnify the picture below and tell me what you think the bottom, middle vegetable is. I wouldn't have guessed it either. Next, he met with Dr. Schraa for Neuropsychology. Schraa listed numbers (e.g., 1-7), and Josh had to repeat...
Read more