Day 45 — Wednesday, July 31, 2024
8:10 I called him. First thing he said was, “How was your night, cheekies?” He said he slept well and sounded very refreshed. We rehearsed the date and he said, “July 17, did I get it right?” I said he got the month, July, right, but the day is 31. He repeated it and said, “You work on one thing at a time so you can see the positive” He also said he was trying to remember, “United States”
12:00 #
Kristine his RN said she has been excited to see him introducing himself by name to any new therapist or Doctor who works with him. She says makes her teary eyed to see his progress. Also that it’s clear to her the of someone’s personality.
When Erin from OT came in, he noticed she was limping and asked, “Why are you limping?” She said her back hurt because she is 7 months pregnant. He said, “Aw, maybe Vanessa can help us too then”
1:00 #
He got a plaster made by Orthotics and they will design the brace to help him raise his right forefoot.
Also the Ponces brought him a very adorable and tall stuffed bear. He loved it and he and Caleb laughed as we put the helmet on it. 😊
1:55 #
John Matthews, the case manager, said that Dr. Seliger, Shane’s attending Neurologist, and Dr. Wainwright, Shane’s original neurosurgeon, are discussing the timing of the next surgery. The surgery to replace the skull piece could happen sooner than the planned Sept 18. That is not decided, but it is a possibility.
Shane liked hearing that possibility and repeated it at different moments to other visitors.
2:00 #
OT said he is using coins to make change and can visually get the date from the calendar.
2:30 #
He walked 600 feet with the walker. And the PT said in the morning he did really well and did side toe taps to the blue cones. They focused on the right foot. Also she said she will try to build in a nap buffer so that he can be more rested for the afternoon PT sessions.
3:00 #
Phil, Jonathan, Marty, Joann all came from Bethel Infirmary and Physical & Occupational Therapy. They are working on arrangements to help Shane after he gets discharged. The visit had him concerned. I believe his main concern was what if they think his injuries would make him a burden. They said they really want to get him home and are already working on everything they can to be ready, including a bigger bed. 😊 He said, “You’re sure that’s not just a big lie?” They said, “No, you’re coming back home, when they release you.” He said, “Ok, let’s do it. You can kick us out 15 minutes later.” That made them laugh, but they reassured him that they are eager to help.
6:00 #
Justin and Gina visited He explained the plan to go back to Bethel and the possible accelerated timing of surgery. It seems to interest him and make him feel like progress is happening.
Hopefully in time the reality of the good news will outweigh the reality of the bad news. As he said, it’s really only been since a week ago that the situation started to make sense.
He’s really getting good at monitoring the words he uses via the feedback of others. Today he said, “You’re all silent, so I must not have said that right.” He either finds a new way to describe it or in one case he told Justin, “Ask me in 20 days, I’ll have it then.”
I started working on a small project for the calendar. To add the full month name AUGUST at the top instead of just AUG. He noticed I wasn’t paying attention to Justin and Gina and said, “I think we could do that later.”
He also realized that they were waiting to take me home, so he asked if we could go home a little early before 8:00pm.
The peg tube wasn’t removed yet. Hopefully soon.
This morning, I prayed to Jehovah about how to continue the conversation about Him with the RN Sastía. Because I have loved the conversations but I also wanted it to be something very appealing for her. Shane made it happen. He asked her if she would like to visit us as Bethel, when he gets out. She said, “That right here in Pomona?” Because a few weeks ago, we had told her our congregation is on US 202. We said, “we live in Tuxedo Park, near Suffern.” She said, “Do other people go there?” We said “Yes, there’s a Bible museum, open to the public. She said, “Really? I’d been looking for a Bible Museum, but they are far away. There’s one right here?” I said “Yes and there is a nearly 1000 year old Bible. And a first edition King James from the 1600s.” She said she’d like to see that. I told her, we will start planning the tour and our meal together soon. Jehovah answered that prayer fast. 🥲
If you want to help us pray for something these are our main concerns. We have been praying these consistently. So maybe we can also ask Him to make it clear if he has answered this prayer. 💓
- Please, if it’s necessary to prevent a future fall, please help us know the original cause of the fall.
- Please help the therapists to show Shane ways to prevent falls in the future
- Please help us Thank Jehovah!!
Private New things he said when Justin and Gina were there tonight. 😊
After Justin was talking about the visitors to GHCO, Shane said, “If I get out in a couple weeks maybe I can get back there”
Also when he talked about the web app, Shane said, “We don’t want it to go to a lot of people all at once” Then Justin told him which branches are planned.
Just yesterday with Jeremy and today he mentioned himself going back to work. 🙏