Posted on 12/09/2006 8:48:18 AM PST by knittnmom
Copywrited site-but this family attends my church and needs prayer urgently.
Prayers for all of you and peace during all of this, especially at Christmas where we celebrate the Prince of Peace's birthday. Love, Maryxxx
Prayers for Ian continue.
Erin is back home, and was spending some time with Ian when I stopped by. I didn't stay long - he looked very alert to me, and I left when his supper arrived. Here's Tom's update.
December 22, 2006 at 07:09 PM CST
Today we had another pretty good day. Ian awoke this morning and was very alert and interactive for a solid 6 hours before he decided he needed to sleep and took a nap. His PT/OT went very well. He learned how to scoot on his bottom (handy for moving around with a full leg cast) and attempted to use a walker. The walker experiment can appropriately be classified as an utter failure--he doesn't quite get the whole "don't put weight on the cast and hop on one leg while supporting yourself on the walker" thing. We're going to get at least an hour to work on this concept on each of the next two days, but indicators are definitely low for success on this front. That would be a good topic for prayer, as it would be nice to get Ian out of the wheelchair and on his feet, even if it is with a walker. We'll have to make a lot of progress quickly though, since the hospital is definitely emptying out for the Christmas weekend and therapy sessions will be few and far between.
On the good side, Ian is doing a great job of sitting up unassisted and holding himself erect. His balance appears to be pretty good and his endurance is increasing. They did note a slight tremor on his left side when he was working during therapy today, but they don't seem to be that concerned about it being a permanent issue. We're going to trust their expert opinion, but please pray about it anyway.
Ian continues to reveal more and more of his personality as well. Today in his sessions with a couple of the therapists (those unfortunate enough to get him when he was getting a little tired), he was a typical silly, relatively uncooperative four year old boy. He faked sleeping, gave silly answers and generally frustrated the psychologist and one of his speech pathologists. Ordinarily, I would have tried harder to get him to behave, but I was really just happy to see him be a little feisty, so I let it go.
I guess our major concern continues to be his short-term memory. While Ian appears to remember much of what he knew before the accident, he's not making a lot of new memories. For example, he doesn't usually remember what he had for breakfast (much like me, but I don't have a brain injury), and he really hasn't shown the ability to remember where he is. While we understand that this is fairly typical for a head injury, the sooner short-term memory comes back, the better it is. Tonight when I asked him where he was, he told me UW Health Hospital, so it's a small victory. We'll see if he still knows tomorrow. This continues to be a topic for our prayers.
A smaller concern (perhaps trivial, but near and dear to parents' hearts), is potty training. After 10 days in diapers, we're now back at work helping him remember what we worked so hard to teach him for the first two years of his life. We take heart from the fact that he remembers sometimes (and he's getting better every day), but we'd love it if he would remember all the time. I know, I know, it's all about me (and HJ and his sisters), but we really hate that whole diaper thing!
So, what we're seeing so far is steady improvement each day. The therapists and doctors are very encouraged by his progress and say he's doing very well. We know there is a long way to go, but we also know that there is a long time line for recovery from brain injury. We're still praying that he'll be able to get a pass to come home for Christmas. This will depend almost solely on his sodium levels, which have been holding steady over the past several days, but the docs aren't taking anything for granted and we agree heartily.
We hope all of you have a great Christmas and happy New Year. I will continue to update during the holidays, but I know lots of you will be traveling and may not be able to access the page. We continue to be overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support for our family--this will truly be a Christmas we will remember for the rest of our lives.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, too! Ian is a bright boy with lots of spunk. I have a good feeling he'll be alright! Prayers continue for him and his family! :)
Prayers for continued healing.
Merry Christmas to you guys as well.
Continued prayers for Ian...
I know it is times like this that it is the "little things" that start to get frustrating...like the potty training..I wouldn't beat myself up over feeling the way you do. I think is part of the long term stay heebie jeebies that hit everyone.
Ian sounds great from what you have said...I will definitely pray for the few things that you mentioned, extra specially...but, it sounds like he not only has good hospital care...but a family and friends that have just given all they can give to help him...and I am sure it is paying off..
Prayers up from Texas, and please, God...hold Ian and his family in your arms and bring them hope, comfort and healing..
Amen
sleuth
We will all continue to pray for his swift and complete recovery.
Prayers offered for continuing good news.
Deep in the night, I lift up Ian to God. Father, You see this child whom You made, this boy whom You love. Heal him, bless Him, and fill him with the knowledge of Your love for Him. In Christ's name I pray it...
You are God. We praise You, for in You all things are possible!
God loves you all very much. Merry Christmas!
BTTT
Merry Christmas, Ian!! Prayers for your COMPLETE recovery, rehabilitation and return to silliness! May God bless you with this.
Unless there are major changes, I probably won't have any updates until Monday evening or Tuesday. But I wanted to thank you all again for your prayers, and to wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas, and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!
And a Merry Christmas to you and yours as well! :)
I wish you the same.
Merry Christmas to Ian and family!!
Thank you for the updates...
Prayers staying up for Ian...
sleuth
BTTT
Merry Christmas to all!!
A Merry Christmas to you all with our warmest wishes for Ian's continued recovery and good health.
Well, over the weekend Ian had some stomach distress. Tests and such didn't find anything accident related, so the suspicion is that he has that bug that's going around. When I visited tonight, he was doing pretty well. He finished a plate of macaroni and cheese while watching "Ice Age 2: The MeltDown". (His mom told me it was "Ice Age" and he corrected her to give me the full title.) He got to go home for a few hours on Christmas, and here's Tom's update on that:
December 26, 2006 at 08:27 AM CST
Ian came home for Christmas Day. It was so nice to have the whole family together for Christmas.
Ian was clearly not feeling 100% yesterday, but for most of the day, at least, he was able to keep his food down. He participated by opening presents and talked when people asked him questions, but wasn't much on starting conversations. He managed to stay awake for most of the morning's activities, but by about 1:00 PM, he'd had quite enough and slept for about 3 hours. We woke him up for dinner, but he really wasn't up to eating much--he just took a couple of bites of food and drank a little water.
As we were preparing to take Ian back to the hospital, he made it very clear to us that he wasn't feeling particularly well. As I picked him up to take him to the car, his stomach decided it had had more than enough and Ian threw up--a little on the carpet (I didn't move to the tiled floor fast enough), but mostly on me--not a great ending to our day, but it was still nice to have the family home for Christmas.
As for what's bothering Ian, it's not clear. The leading school of thought is that he has some sort of stomach bug, and his recent illness isn't related to the accident, though it's tough to tell. HJ says Ian rested well last night, drank some clear fluids and kept it all down. When he woke up this morning, he appeared to feel a bit better, so we'll see. They're going to gingerly approach some more substantial foods today and see how he manages. Ian has a pretty packed rehab schedule today (five therapy sessions), so I hope he has the energy to participate and learn.
Ian's clearly making progress. We continue to be concerned about his short-term memory. He seems to be able to remember things for a while, but remembering them from one day to the next is still a bit of a challenge. He now remembers he's in the hospital (because he needs to be fixed, he says), and remembers that the thing on his leg is called a cast. He's not really clear that he got any presents yesterday (he had quite a pile), but if you prompt him he seems to remember a little. This is clearly a topic for continued prayer.
Thanks again for your prayers. I'll try to update again this evening.
Tom and HJ
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