Wed. - Skittles and stuff

This has been a roller coaster day. It started out that Dustin did not sleep , was in tons of pain as they were weaning him off of the Fentanyl so he could have a psyche consult to see if he was depressed. He did not want me near him and not a happy camper.

At 1pm, he had occupatational, physical, respiratory and speech therapy all working together to feed, teach and breath. It was hard to watch as it was so hard for him to coordinate as well as have the strength for sitting up, breathing, talking swallowing. You can really see how big it is for him to begin to see that he will not always be in a bed in a close enclosed room is great. He did great and lasted 25 min. without any blood pressure problems. He had juice, yogurt, Popsicle, and skittles and even was able to bring his hand to his mouth using his bicep muscle. He was also talking and was able to say hi to Nerina on the phone although it was way too much with all the other stimulas going on. He then told the speech therapist that that was not fair that we called her and he wasn't ready for it and she needed to apologize. That's the real Dustin!

He then had to have his psych consult to see if he was depressed because as you know everyone wants to put him on antidepressants and they were trying to see if he could correctly understand the questions to determine if he could speak for himself. They asked him several things which he did very well with, asked him the date (I didn't know it!) and he only knew it was 2008. They asked him where he was and he said "Israel" and then they asked him why Israel and he says" cause it's a nice place to be." They asked him if he was depressed and he said "yeah sometime" and then they asked if he had happy times and he says "sure doesn't everybody have good and bad days!" Their final conclusion was that he was not depressed but maybe somewhat delerious. The ocuupational therapist probably had a more correct diagnosis in that Dustin is quite the game player and thought he would mess with their heads. Anyway he is coming along as well as can be expected. Please continue to pray for quick weaning off of the vent.

Gretchen has been great. She quietly reads and I remind her this is like a dream vacation at a spa where you sit around and read your favorite books. The room is cold and they bring her heated blankets!! She has been great and we have gotten to go out and have some good food.

I talked to the guy from Project Walk and am very encouraged with their methods of treatment. Perhaps we will stop by the VA and get all of the equipment he will need and then head to San Diego for therapy. They believe that the quicker you can get the muscles moving and going and trained the greater progress you can have and look forward to, whereas normal rehab teaches you to adapt to a wheel chair where you whole body begins to atrophy. They also treat pain, and spascity with drugs whereas Project Walk believes that these are signs the body is trying to heal and make contact from the brain through the nervous system. It all just seems to make sense to me and those of you that know me know that I don't want him on a drug for every little symptom. Anyway it sounds much more hopeful and if nothing else more fun for a 23 year old male that has life ahead of him.

Rick drove to Orlando today to get Dustin's stuff out of a storage locker and Gretchen leaves tomorrow. I will be on my own for the first time but I'll be fine. The occupational therapist has already recruited me to be on her Doctorate committee to make comments on her dissertation on family education in the trauma setting. I also have Gretchen leaving me "Mary Tyler Moore" DVD's until Rick gets home and sends me my Neuroscience DVD's that I had gotten last year to do for continuing ed for my dietitian's status. Who would have ever known how much greater my interest is on this subject now!

Dustin is off to have a scan to check his stomach. His liver and pancreatic enzymes are up and they are wondering if that is what has been causing the infection and fevers. He has had no fever and finally resting. We are going to drive out to look at the VA while Gretchen is here with the car.

Keep praying and know that we love you all
mary pat