Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Mark was in a fidgety, feisty mood today. He gave the physical therapists quite a workout, but they said he did great on everything they wanted him to do. He told us he is bored and frustrated and wanted to come to the hotel. He's tired of the hospital. We explained that he will be going to a rehab center in Tampa, Florida and that would be better. We also told him that if he wanted to stop being bored and frustrated he would have to cooperate and do everything he was told. Then he would be well again and could go back home. He just gave us a dirty look.

Four of his good friends from Strongsville drove the six hours down here last night and spent most of the day with him. They are great young men who are home for Christmas break and were in band with him. They kept him talking most of the afternoon and evening, and were so patient with him, even when we couldn't completely understand what he was saying. He is getting better, but some of his sentences are still garbled. He did have them laughing out loud with some of the things they were talking about. Unfortunately, his face is not really animated like it normally would be. There are facial muscles that have to return through therapy so that he can laugh and smile again. He doesn't seem to have any trouble making the frump face though.

One of the tests they are going to do tomorrow will be a swallow study. The doctors want to see how well he is swallowing so they use a dye and scan when he swallows. If there is not a problem, they can remove the naso/gastric tube and feed him a diet of soft pureed foods and thick liquids. We hope all goes well. He is hell bent on pulling the tube out and has several times. They have to keep his right hand restrained and he even managed to unclip that and get loose. He is determined to get rid of that tube come hell or high water. Keep your fingers crossed that he passes the test!