Christopher's Rehab/Recovery 9

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:30 pm Christopher had a great night last (Monday) night, sleeping from 9 pm to 6 am.  He went to ST, PT and OT this morning and was cooperative and cheerful.  During OT, they walked out of the hospital (photo of Chris with his two OT therapists, Patty and Beth walking to the elevator) and up the street to a convenience store where they gave him a list of items to buy and money to pay for them.  He successfully navigated the aisles and cashier, though he is being accused of having shopped faster than anyone they've ever seen!  I told him that Christopher always shops that way.  We affectionately call it "SWAP"ing..."Shopping With A Purpose."  In and out... no lingering! He had his first visitor in a week and it was long overdue, from Christopher's perspective!  Our friend, Yvette brought him lunch from his favorite deli, Brass Bear and she stayed and chatted (more like listened while Christopher chatted).  The last time Yvette saw Christopher, he was still on the ventilator.  She couldn't believe the change in him! (Photo of Chris and Yvette) We have had the pleasure of getting to know one of the ER Doctors here at Children's Hospital during the past 20 days.  Dr. Kevin and Paul have a mutual friend who put us in touch with each other and we have so appreciated all the visits Dr. Kevin has made to see Christopher during his stay (photo of Chris with Dr. Kevin).  This afternoon when he stopped by to see Chris, he was amazed by his progress!  He told me that when children have traumatic brain injuries as severe as Christopher's, they always feel optimistic about their recovery, but the rapid pace that they are seeing here is astounding and certainly 'out of the norm'!  We keep hearing the word 'miracle' when referring to Chris' recovery... Alex, who is Christopher's best friend and was with him when he fell from the tree 20 days ago just walked in the room for his second visit with Chris.  The first time he was here was on day 5 and Chris was still on the ventilator.  We are waiting for Christopher to return from PT/OT and I can't wait to see the look on his face when he first sees Alex! (photo of Alex and Chris during Alex's visit...more about that to come...) Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 5:15 pm Many of you have asked about Christopher's diet, Emily, Nick and Paul so here's a little information on them.     ~ Is he really able to eat solid food now? No more pureed? Christopher is no longer on pureed foods...he can eat anything he wants and he loves it when we bring him some of his favorite foods (Sandwiches from Brass Bear Deli, etc...He can't wait for In 'N' Out and Chipotle one of these days! ~ Does Emily come to the hospital every day - or back to school some? Emily no longer comes to the hospital every day.  She actually went back to school the Monday after the accident so she only missed two days of school.  We felt that it was important for her to keep up with her schoolwork and get back to some level of normalcy.  The past week we have only brought her here once because Christopher was in such a 'bad way' and we didn't want her to see him like that, but he's doing so much better now, so her visits will resume.  By the way, she passed her driving test and got her License on Monday morning!  I fought hard to get her an on-campus parking permit so that she could drive herself to and from school for the remaining month.  You would have thought I was asking them to release a fugitive from prison... Congratulations on being an official driver, Emily!  I love you! ~ Is Nick still here?   Nick was planning to be here until Friday, May 14th but this morning he informed me that he has decided to stay an extra week to help out.  This, of course made me cry.  I know that I'm exhausted beyond words, physically, psychologically and emotionally, which makes me prone to tears, but the fact that he saw my need and has put his life on hold to help out makes me proud.  Just writing this has made the tears flow... I love you, Nick!  ~When is Paul starting back to work? Paul's first day back at work was Monday, May 10th.  He is easing into it by keeping shorter hours for the time being.  That way he can stop by the hospital in the late afternoon, have dinner with us (Nick and Emily join us, along with friends most evenings) and spend a little time catching up on the day before heading home.  Several of Christopher's classmates and parents texted and e-mailed me last Friday.  Here's what they had to say: "I wanted to let you know that the 7th grade at Stone Valley had their field trip to the Exploratorium (in San Francisco).  When the bus went by the Children's Hospital all the kids on the bus waived and yelled out to Chris!" (Jen Abbott) "omg. we just passed the hospital in oakland and me and maria started to shout 'i love u chris!!!!! ha ha" (text from Sabrina, Chris' friend) "Tanner has been by Children's Hospital a dozen times since the accident, and he screams, "HI CHRIS!!!" out the window every time until he's hoarse. (Forrest Smith) Chris is so happy to be able to see, text and talk with some of his friends now.  He is continually amazed at the number of people who know about his accident and hospitalization and are praying for him.  Just yesterday he asked me, "Does anyone know what happened to me?  Like...that I'm in the hospital?"  I looked at him, smiled and said, "Oh, only several thousand people know that you are in the hospital!"  His eyes got really big and I proceeded to tell him how quickly word spread throughout our community and then beyond about his accident and hospitalization.  I think he was overwhelmed by what I was telling him.  He still can't seem to grasp the fact that his entire school, church, soccer club, non-profit organizations we are involved with and communities both local and around the world are not only aware of the accident but have been following his journey via my e-mails, blog texts, and word of mouth.  I have been telling him some of the stories that I am receiving from people... family, friends, friends of friends and people I have never even met. Christopher really does seem to have moved a lot of folks to pray like they've never prayed before or at least in a long time.  I am finding that those who have boys have been especially 'rocked' by this incident.  I can only imagine how it must feel, knowing that 'this could have been my child.'  A friend of mine told me that he had spent the weekend biking with his boys.  He said, "for whatever reason when I'm riding in the woods lately I think a lot about your son and my boys and kids in general."   We are so fortunate and grateful beyond words for the outcome that we are seeing in Christopher.  We don't really understand why we are so blessed, but we are humbled by the outpouring of love from family, friends and even strangers who have been touched by our journey.    I haven't written many 'Christopher-isms' lately, as his thoughts and speech are becoming more and more clear on a daily basis, but I have one that I forgot to give you late last week.   Chris was alone in the room with his room mate, Kiet and his mom Pattie.  He was at the height of his frustration with the hospital, the doctors and nurses and the fact that no one would let him go home.  Chris to Pattie:  "You are the only non-stupid person here!"   Thank goodness he no longer believes that there is only one 'non-stupid person' here!  He is coming to a much clearer understanding of what has transpired over the past three weeks, and perhaps I'll talk more about that in my next post. Love, Laura