Blog 101 - To those of you who are new to blogs and blogging, I wanted to give a brief overview of how to use this site. There are authors and followers. Authors are Val and Connie. Followers are all of our wonderful support system that continue to follow Bru's journey through this battle. Authors create posts, followers can read posts and comment on posts that have been created. As a follower you don't have to log in in with an account or sign in to comment. If there is a post that you are interested in commenting on, just click the comment icon below the post itself. Once you have typed your post, you must choose an account just below the text box, choose anonymous! If you are looking for all of the posts to the blog, scroll down the page and look to the right of the screen, every post is listed there by month and day. It's listed chronologically starting newest to oldest. If you want to add pictures, please email me at emtp1124@yahoo.com with a description of the picture and the caption you would like underneath it. Blogging is very similar to Facebook and other social sites, but it doesn't have the ability to post things to the blog like you do people's walls in facebook. If you are having problems viewing the blog, it may be because of settings that you have on your internet browser . You can type the URL into your smart phone browser as well and see the blog pretty well. If you want updates sent to you anytime things are updated, subscribe to the blog by email. This option is at the top of the page on the right hand side of your screen just above the picture of Bruce. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at emtp1124@yahoo.com.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

DAY 1 - Rehab Unit

Well, here is another one for y'all. God love this man!! First of all, yesterday was a setback. Bruce became non-ambulatory, non-communicative, and overall not as well as the past few days. Another CT scan revealed no bleeds, but there was more swelling in the brain. So they ordered heavy doses of steroids (they had been weaning him off of them) to hopefully correct that. This morning he was a little better. I said, "I love you. You say it". He parroted me and said "I love you". Asked him who am I, his response "Val, my wife". That's a start.

Came back up late this afternoon and he was sitting in the wheelchair. The speech therapist was helping feed him dinner and doing more assessments. When she had finished and left the room, I pulled the wheelchair up close to me and spoke with him. Here is what was said, sorry didn't take it down verbatim and using my memory (which most of you know is pretty lousy).

I'm the Q, Bruce is the A:
Q Do you remember yesterday at all?
A No.
Q Do you know what has happened to you?
A (No response)
Q Do you know where you are?
A Hackley Health.
Q You had a brain tumor removed --
A -- the size of a golf ball.
Q No, the size of a tennis ball.
A (Gesturing with hand what the size was)
Q Yes, that's right. Did Dianne come to see you today? (His secretary)
A No.
Q I don't mean Di (my sister), but Dianne.
A No.
Q Dianne said she was coming up. You don't remember seeing her yet?
A No
Q Are you okay, babe?
A Overly solicitous.
Q (Laughter) I am being overly solicitous?
A Yes.
Q That's because I'm so happy to talk with you. Do you remember your brother Paul coming up to see you today as well?
A He is, too.
Q He is, too, what? Overly solicitous?
A Yes.
Q SWEET! (Do a little dance)

Sorry, Paul, I guess you and I are talking to him much the same way and asking too many questions. I just started laughing so hard! True Bru form :) Doesn't say to me just shut up but "Overly solicitous"!

A little later on Jake and I were talking with him again.

Q Who is that there, Bruce?
A Jacob. (YAY!!!)
Q Say "I love you".
A Turns to Jake but no response. Turns to me and says, "I love you".
Q No. Turn to Jake and say I love you. (Put my fingers on his throat to encourage his brain to activate his voicebox)
A (Turns to Jake) I love you.
(Jacob answers, "I love you too, Dad".)
Q Jake is going to go home right now. Do you understand what I'm telling you?
A (Thumbs up)
Q No, tell me.
A Taskmaster.

So precious!! His brain is working overtime to try to do very simple tasks, but the fact that he can verbalize is fabulous!!! I think he was joking with me but unsure. Again, WE'LL TAKE IT!!! His ambulatory skills are pretty much non-existent, but soon we hope his brain will tell his body what to do. Hence the reason for the steroids. Sorry this post is very long, but it was so humorous I had to share it with y'all. Baby steps, just baby steps, but progress is progress. So happy to hear him talk, albeit in a whisper!

We will be spending Thanksgiving snuggled up in his bed together and watching the Lions whip the Green Bay Packers - ok, so let me dream, will 'ya -- and having Thanksgiving dinner brought up by my sister Di and her husband Fred. Hope everyone who reads this will have a great Thanksgiving and that you hug your family and tell them how much you love them!! Oh, and we love all of you, too :)
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7 comments:

  1. Connie MaximNovember 24, 2011 at 10:15 PM

    Happy Thanksgiving! We love you Bruce! The boys liked my turkey dinner. I will bring you a turkey sandwich and some Gouda mashed potatoes tomorrow for lunch. Hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rankinlmNovember 25, 2011 at 12:00 AM

    Good for you, Bruce. I can tell there's nothing wrong with your hearing or perception. Kick me (or Mike) if we start asking stupid questions or talking too loud. It's apparently a natural phenomenon to lopsided communication events when one has to do most of the talking. Just sayin. No comparison - but I was just thinking (and laughing) about Edward Scissorhands and the people in his neighborhood. Here's to finding your voice soon so we can hear "Five O'Clock World" again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 25, 2011 at 10:09 AM

    His sense of humor will certainly play a large part in the healing process. You've always been able to make us laugh Bruce and despite difficult circumstances you continue to do so. Man do we love you! David and I are looking foward to coming up and visiting soon. Let us know when the time is right for that Val. Hugs. David and Nadine

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 26, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    Hey Val and Bruce,
    So glad you are posting so we can rejoice with you. We are thankful that things are going along well for you. Sounds like you're being "overly solicitous!" :) We are still praying that our God will continue his healing work in Bruce. Please let me know what else we can do. We're monitoring the blog often!

    Love you
    Nancy and Dick

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 26, 2011 at 7:49 PM

    Thinking of and praying for you guys.

    Bonnie Jones

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maureen NurmikkoNovember 27, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    thinking of you, prayin'

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mike ThomasNovember 28, 2011 at 7:18 AM

    All my love to you both

    Mike

    ReplyDelete

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