Posted on 12/09/2006 8:48:18 AM PST by knittnmom
Copywrited site-but this family attends my church and needs prayer urgently.
Thanks for posting these so faithfully ... I love the daily Ian update.
What a heart warming update.
Prayers for complete healing continue.
Prayers for Mom and Dad continue as well.
I was going to post a short update, after seeing Ian and his family in church this morning - Ian was smiling from ear to ear, clearly happy to be among friends and out and about. Here's the full update from Tom:
January 07, 2007 at 08:10 PM CST
As I was reminded several times at church this morning, I have neglected to update everyone for quite a while. Please accept my apologies for being derelict in my official duties.
There’s not a ton to report, as last week we only had one therapy session with the Speech Pathologist last Thursday. I was not able to be there, but HJ tells me that it went very well. During this therapy session, Ian was asked to draw a face and identify its parts. He did a pretty good job, but had a difficult time identifying ears and describing their purpose without prompting. It’s strange, sometimes, what he remembers and on what he draws a blank. Now, he did draw eyes, and made sure they had pupils, because as Ian said, “You can’t see without pupils.” Clearly, he’s been listening to our conversations with Dr. Tan and everyone else that shined a light in his eyes every six hours for three solid weeks. He’s all about pupils…
The other exercise he did involved looking at pictures and identifying the items. This is a tough thing for kids with brain injuries, as they often have trouble finding and pulling out the information without other cues to tell help them identify the object. Now, in this exercise Ian did very well, failing only to identify darts (not enough time in bars, I guess), stilts (needs more exposure to clowns—the circus kind, not just the clowns here at home), and escalator (we avoid malls). HJ thought this was pretty good and the therapist told us that the book she was using was above Ian’s age level, so we were pretty happy about these results.
I’m not sure what kind of conclusion we can draw from the results this week. Sometimes, Ian’s memory appears to be great, and other times, especially when he’s tired, he appears confused. He’ll sit at the table and tell us he’s thirsty, and we have to remind him that there is a full glass of milk sitting right there. Other times, he will tell you “I have two slices of cheese and two slices of cinnamon swirl bread, and that makes four things.” Or, like tonight, he’ll say, “Next season will be Spring, and then the next season is the season I love, Summer!” Then, he won’t remember what day it is or what he had for dinner—that makes him a lot like me, but then I have a 45 year head start and I haven’t taken particularly good care of my brain over the years, so it’s probably not a good sign.
Overall, Ian appears to be making generally positive progress. He moves easily around the house and if we don’t watch him will sometimes attempt to climb off the couch or pull himself to standing—not things we want him to do unsupervised just yet. He is becoming more spontaneous in his communication and his responses are less and less monosyllabic and more and more appropriate. He had a great visit with his grandparents (John and Gretchen Oakley) over the last several days, and my Mom and Dad tell me they think he’s doing great, especially given the kind of progress he’s made since the accident.
Finally, we took Ian to church today. It was a lot of fun for all of us to let everyone who has been praying for him and our family over the last month see the results of their prayers. It was an almost overwhelming feeling being in the church and seeing everyone. All of this was sort of lost on Ian, who was thrilled to be back in Sunday School and really enjoyed seeing all of his friends again. They had a great party (including a pinata) and they thoroughly wore him out—It was a great day. Soon, we will do our best to thank everyone publicly, hopefully without blubbering all the way through it.
Next week starts a lot of therapy. Speech on Monday and Thursday. Ortho on Thursday. OT/PT on Tuesday, and Opthalmology on Monday. We should have a better picture of where he is by the end of this week. I’ll do my best to give you an update as we learn more about what’s going on. Please continue to pray for Ian’s cognitive and physical recovery. While he’s doing great, we still have much to pray for and much to accomplish. Thanks in advance for your continued prayerful support of Ian and our family.
Tom and HJ
oops - did it again. Posted to myself instead of you! See #323 for latest Ian Update. Happy Monday!
BTTT
Carolyn
Seems to me he's done remarkable well. Thanks for the updates. Blessings. Jan
I love these updates. God can do amazing things.
Prayers for all....................
Continued prayers for Ian.
Thank you for the update,...
Prayers continuing for Ian...but, he sounds like he is making remarkable progress.
sleuth
I gotta say, I love that you've kept your sense of humor through all this! More prayers and big ((hugs)) to Ian and his family.
Still praying...and intend to keep right on doing it.
Thank you all for your continued prayers...as you'll see from Tom's latest updates, Ian continues to benefit and heal as a result of your prayers...
January 09, 2007 at 07:54 PM CST
Here's a quick update on what we learned yesterday and
today.
Monday was a very long visit with the Pediatric
Opthalmologist. Ian was put through a lot of testing,
first by the doctor's assistant (sorry, I don't know
the proper name for her job), then by a guy who was
taking measurements (looking for proper eye
alignment), and then finally by the doctor. By the end
of the second set of tests, Ian had just about had
enough. He had to concentrate for a very long time,
answer lots of questions and have lights shined in his
eyes for a very long time. This is a pretty tough gig
for a kid who's recovering from a brain injury--you
could tell that his head was beginning to hurt and he
was definitely getting frustrated with the difficulty
of the process.
Despite Ian's obvious discomfort and the difficulty HJ
and I had with watching him struggle through the exams
(I can't overstate how hard that was for us), we came
away with what appears to be good news. Ian's right
eye seems to be improving. When we left the hospital,
his vision tested out at 20/200. At the doctor's
office yesterday, his vision in his right eye tested
out at 20/100. While this is not perfect vision, it is
a significant improvement--the doctor told us that the
letters for 20/100 are about half the size of the
letters for 20/200. We pray we are seeing a positive
trend, not just a difference in how each of the
individual doctors measures.
The other piece of good news is that Ian's optic nerve
still appears to be healthy. The doctor explained that
often in nerve injuries, the nerve begins to atrophy
and turns white/pale. Currently, Ian's optic nerve
appears pink and healthy, giving us hope that the
nerve will continue to heal. Please keep praying for
his vision to totally recover--it would be another
miracle, and we know it is possible.
Today, Ian had his first visits with the Occupational
Therapist (OT) and with the Physical Therapist (PT).
The OT subjected him to a number of tests. The first
test involved a lot of spatial skills, where Ian
looked at patterns and tried to find the same pattern
from a number of choices, completing patterns, etc. It
didn't look that easy to me, as you definitely needed
to concentrate and pay attention if you wanted to get
the answer right--I think I might have missed one or
two. I think Ian did pretty well, though he got tired
near the end and didn't complete the entire book.
We'll have to wait for the therapist's report to see
what she thought. Another test involved testing Ian's
gripping and pinching strength. We thought he did
well, but apparently, Ian needs to work on his hand
strength. This could be a result of the brain injury,
so it's another good topic for prayer (and exercise).
Not sure what conclusions can be drawn from OT, but at
least he enjoyed most of it.
Ian did very well in PT. He showed good strength in
his unbroken leg, and was able to do a lot of
one-legged squats and balanced himself well on one
leg. He was also fairly adept at transferring himself
from a small chair into his wheelchair with minimal
assistance. Another good area was balance. He did a
very good job of maintaining his balance on an
exercise ball while we played catch and chased
bubbles. His therapist said he did very well. We
probably won't do a lot more PT until after Ian gets
the cast off his leg and we begin walking again. He
has an appointment with the the Ortho doc on Thursday,
so we'll see how much longer the full-leg cast will be
required. I'm pulling for a walking cast by Thursday,
but I'm probably optimistic. We are praying that his
leg is healing properly and that Thursday's X-rays
have only good news.
January 09, 2007 at 08:00 PM CST
Over the limit again...please read this last!
One other point for prayer. Ian has been complaining a
little that his head hurts. I'm guessing that some of
this comes just from being more aware of how he feels
and his increasing ability to express himself, but
we're watching him closely. Please pray that the pain
in his head is just part of the healing process. We'll
keep you apprised if there are any changes.
Finally, a quick update on me (Tom). I continue to get
better. My head is still numb, and I still have a way
to go to get the laceration on the back of my head
completely healed. I continue to experience a bit of
vertigo, so I gave in to HJ's pressure to schedule a
PT session. I have my first session on
Thursday--they've warned me to have someone drive me,
as I will probably be too dizzy to drive home...I'm
soooo looking forward to that! Hopefully, we'll be
able to solve the problem fairly quickly--it's not an
all the time thing, but it can be annoying.
Thanks for your continued prayers. We know they are
working!
Tom and HJ
Thank you for the update....
Continued prayers for Ian, Tom and HC...
He sounds like he is coming right along...prayers the the optic nerve stays healthy.
Prayers for Tom and his poor head...
sleuth
Thank you. It frustrates him, as it would most of us, because he's very much accustomed to being on top of everything, and his concussion is getting in the way of that. His biggest concern, though, is that Ian make a full recovery.
I know he knows this...but, it is probably part of the stress over the accident and Ian..that hasn't helped his recovery.
Prayers for them ALL.
sleuth
Yes, you're right on both counts. Thank you, again, for your faithful prayers.
Prayers continue for Tom and Ian
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