Friday, December 28, 2007

Today Mark ate his breakfast and actually liked it. Quite an improvement over the dinner last night. Dinner tonight was better too. They actually forgot the pureed meat, which we suppose was a plus. He had a busy day with some physical and occupational therapy. He likes being in his wheelchair, but complains after a while that his butt gets numb. He was able to visit with some of the therapy dogs, especially a German Shepard named Hank that he remembered from the weekend. When I mentioned there were Burmese Mountain dogs in the hospital, he remembered our friends' dogs Max and Murphy. He really seems to know what he wants and gets frustrated trying to get things across. When the OT tried to get him to write his name, he complained that he couldn't do it because his brain was scrambled and he was mad. He can read his name and spell it just fine. He can carry on conversations, and his speech is already improving even with just a very little speech therapy. It's the physical things that are hard.

Trying to improve that, the doctors today decided, after advising us of the pros and cons, to inject botox into several spots in his left arm. It had become very hard to move due to what they call spasticity. The botox allows them to paralyze the muscle in a better position. It was then put into a special customized splint which will keep it at a better angle. As the botox wears off, it will have saved the muscle in the proper position for the physical therapy. They are using a drug to achieve the same effect in his legs. The PT there is going better than with the left arm. All of this will take time, and we only hope he will be patient enough to get through it all. Mark has always wanted to do everything right the first time and gets miffed when he doesn't. Please keep praying that he cooperates!

The very best thing that happened today occurred tonight. When we were leaving the hospital and saying good night, Mom asked for a good night kiss. And got one! Best kiss she ever had and that didn't make Dad jealous at all!