Christopher’s Homecoming 7
Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 7:00 pm
To say that receiving meals from friends is a wonderful thing would be an understatement. The fact that I don’t have to plan, shop and prepare dinner every day is like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. And the added benefit is the short time that we are able to spend with each of you as you deliver your goodies! Yesterday we were privileged to enjoy the company of one of my MOPS moms, Sandy and her three darling children. (photo above)
When Sandy first arrived at the door, the kids were still in the car, begging to come in the house to meet our dogs. Once inside, though, the two little ones were quite frightened, especially of Chief, our 170-pound Great Dane! I did the same thing that I frequently do when children first see him and realize how HUGE he is… I put him in a ‘down’ so that he wasn’t towering over them quite so much. As we spent time together, catching up with Christopher and hearing all about his tree-climbing experience, they relaxed, realizing that Chief is indeed the most gentle, loving and calm dog they’ve ever been around. It wasn’t long before Shelby (photo) was carrying Bella (our 6-pound Shih-tzu/poodle mix who she was afraid of initially) around and petting Chief, thoroughly enjoying both of them and forgetting that she is afraid of dogs! Thanks for the meal, Sandy and kids... it was delicious!
This morning Christopher and I made the 60-mile trek down to Santa Clara, which is south of San Jose to see Dr. Mandac who is now his Pediatric Rehabilitation doctor. Spending an hour with this doctor was an absolute pleasure. He was so engaging, thorough and professional. He began the hour by asking Christopher the first thing he remembers after his accident on April 21st. He said that he remembers being in the veil bed on the Rehab floor of Children’s Hospital (ahhh…remember the ‘inescapable veil bed’?) and feeling frustrated and angry that he was being forced back into the bed by one of the nurses (I believe it was Bryan). He didn’t think he needed to be there, wanted to just go home and hated being ‘handled’ that way. Oh, how I remember that day! It was Tuesday, May 4th, 14 days after his accident, and he was in the midst of the really ugly part of withdrawal from narcotics. His confusion and disorientation from the brain injury were peaking. Thank goodnessthat didn’t last the 2 – 3 weeks we were warned of!
As we spoke, Dr. Mandac compared Christopher’s brain injury to an earthquake in a supermarket. The recovery will be much like learning to ‘re-shelve stock’. Chris will need to learn to process information similar to deciding which aisle a can of peaches belongs in, what shelf it should sit upon, which fruit it sits with, what brand it needs to be grouped with and which direction to turn the can so that the label can be properly read. All of that seems so simple to us… like falling off a log, but for Christopher, it could offer quite a challenge.
He told us that one of the things we need to focus on during his recovery is the information he is taking in and remembering post injury. It is not so important what or even that he can remember and tell us anything before the accident. That information is there… he simply needs to retrieve it. It is the learning of new things, the ability to process and understand those things and then the successful retrieval of them that aids in his recovery AND tells us that his brain is indeed beginning to once again function properly. I LOVE being educated and learning how to challenge my boy to further his healing!
We discussed several concerns that Dr. Mandac has for Christopher, the main one being that he does not want him doing any activities with high risk for another head injury. This means no biking for six months. It has been eight hours since Chris heard that news and he is still struggling to accept it. Mountain biking with Paul is one of his favorite activities and they had already begun planning their weekly Saturday morning excursions when he had his accident. We knew that mountain biking was not in the cards for quite some time, as well as skiing, playing competitive soccer and, of course, tree-climbing, but we thought that he would be able to hop on his bike and ride to a friends’ house sooner than later. No such luck.
I loved how Dr. Mandac spoke to him, though. He told him that he tends to be extremely conservative in general, but with regard to a severe brain injury, he is evenmore conservative. “If you fall and hit your head again, Christopher”, he said, “then we will not have the luxury of sitting here and having the nice discussion that we are currently having.” In other words… another brain injury would result in a much worse outcome… one that none of us wishes to ever imagine. I have chosen to listen to and embrace Dr. Mandac’s conservative orders. The road to recovery from his injury is a very short one relative to the rest of Christopher’s life, which we all want him to live fully and completely.
We talked about his Dilantin, the anti-seizure medication that he takes twice a day. Chris’ medication comes in liquid form at this point, but Dr. Mandac much prefers the pill form. He explained that when dispensing the liquid Dilantin from the ‘barrel’ in the Pharmacy, the place from which the medicine is ‘scooped’, the top, middle or bottom, determines the actual level of concentration of Dilantin (bottom being the most concentrated). There is no way to know how much actual medication is in each bottle that we receive. Therefore, he had us stop in at the Lab on our way out this morning to have blood work done. Based on the results, he will be able to determine the level of Dilantin currently in Christopher’s system so that when he orders the new prescription in pill-form, which has a controlled and measured concentration, he can adjust it to his needs. It is very important for the level of Dilantin in his blood stream to remain steady rather than vacillating up and down, which will lower his risk of seizures.
Sleep is one of the most important things for Christopher to do to aid in his recovery. When the brain rests during sleep, it heals. He has been so tired every day after our mornings out and about at various doctor appointments that he has been spending the afternoons napping. Dr. Mandac was pleased to hear this and told us that, for now, he should not engage in any sleep-deprivation activities, including sleepovers (sorry, Alex)!
Neuropsychological testing is something that he was going to recommend and was glad to hear that Dr. Sun had already ordered it. He is going to look at the results after the test and discuss them with me. As I said in Monday’s post, this will be a two to three hour comprehensive test that will give us a clear understanding of his cognitive abilities and will allow us to know where he needs help. It will also provide a baseline of where he is now so that we can monitor the progress that he makes as time goes on.
The next thing that I need to do is to contact Christopher’s school to discuss what needs to be done for him to finish out his 7th grade year. Something fun to look forward to doing tomorrow!
On our way home from Santa Clara, we stopped in to see my friend, Karen who is the Director of a preschool. (photo right) The last time she saw Chris was on the Saturday after his fall, when he was still in a coma. One thing that I am learning is how very therapeutic it is for those who have followed our journey to see Christopher… to lay eyes on him… to listen to him talk, see him walk, smile and laugh. As we entered the preschool, there were shouts of joy and laughter and he was hugged and kissed, tears flowing freely from women we have never met but who have been very muchwith us over the past five weeks.
While there, Christopher even got a hug from a very sweet four-year-old, Marissa who is the niece of a good friend. (photo left) It was endearing to hear stories being told about Chris and his accident. It turns out that Marissa’s mom, Cindy was at a social event where someone she didn’t know was talking about a 13-year-old boy who had sustained a traumatic brain injury. Cindy told her that she knew of a 13-year-old boy who had fallen out of a tree and was in a coma. As they were commenting on the coincidence and began comparing notes, they realized that they were both talking about the same boy.... my boy… and they had both heard about Christopher from friends… of friends… of friends… It is absolutely amazing how word of Chris’ accident moved so quickly and even more than that, how loving and concerned everyone was.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and your words of support and encouragement during this difficult time. It means more than you will ever know and I will never be able to thank each of you properly. Just know that they sustained me and continue to do so.
I love you all,
Laura
P.S. Several of you have asked me to include the link to the Caringbridge website in each of my updates, so here it is: caringbridge.org/visit/christopherackerman/mystory
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