Fixing A Hole

Last week we stopped to get something to eat and in the restuarant there was a poster of the Beatles album cover, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It listed the songs on the album and one of them was 'Fixing A Hole' and I knew it was the perfect title of this blog.

On Thursday, we made a bonzai trip to Charlotte and back. We saw the surgeon who will be doing the reconstructive work on Paul's orbit and the repairing of the leak. He said that he and Dr. McLanahan will work together in the surgery. Dr. Matthews said that Paul's eye is not all the way back in the orbit because the floor of the orbit needed better repair work than the first surgery done in December 2005. It was not necessarily that the first surgeon did anything really wrong, but given all the issues back then, it was probably the best they could do. They are also looking at the options to help Paul recover from the paralysis on the left side of his face. They need to determine if the nerve is severed or not. There is a technique they will do that will help 'jump start' the nerve and if that does not work, then the nerve will in all probability need to be replaced. Paul will be in the hospital around 5 days. We are now only waiting to hear when the surgery will take place and anticipate it happening within the month or beginning of February. Paul is definitely upbeat about it and talks often about how he just wants to get some help with relief from his headaches and get his eye working as well as possible. In the last couple of weeks, no matter who he is talking to, he asks people to pray that the doctors will know what to do and will be successful in this surgery. Dr. Matthews also explained that the anesthesia may cause some regression in Paul's mental state, but only for a few days. In some brain injured patients the anesthesia can have that affect. Paul immediately asked him what he meant and he said that it would not be a permanent problem and he explained it all to Paul. Once Paul understood, he said it all sounded okay to him. It is amazing how Paul will seem like he is not really paying attention to what is going on, then will jump into the conversation to get better clarification and understanding. He will sometimes not comment at all, then hours later, when he is having a conversation with me, will ask me specific questions about something that was said earlier in the day or even the day before. He really is cognizant of his surroundings. While we were at the appointment, the doctor picked up the medical folder and there was still one sheet of paper left on the counter. The doctor was talking to us all and Paul said, "Excuse me, don't you want that sheet of paper also?" The doctor said "Actually, that one is for you to take up front". Jon and I smiled at each other as it was another example of how Paul will pay attention to everything going on. We were busy listening to the doctor, as was Paul, but he stays very visually aware of things too. To be honest, I had not even really noticed the doctor had picked up the folder.

Now that there has been so much conversation about the surgery and the recent appointments with the Charlotte doctors, Paul has been thinking about what he will do once he is pain free. He really wants to get back to school and finish, but has admitted he isn't sure what major he will work towards. He called his brother Jon to tell him about the doctor appointment and was very upbeat about what is ahead for him. We are glad that he has so much hope about it and like Paul, we again are asking for prayers for the doctors who will perform the surgery and that it will be one more step towards recovery for Paul.

Paul is continuing to have full days. He doesn't head straight for bed like he was doing the week before last. More than once, I have gone up to his room thinking he might have laid down to take a nap and have found him on his computer. He is back to sending emails and instant messaging some of his friends again. Or he will be sitting at his desk talking to someone on his cell phone. It really helps me feel encouraged that we are making good progress when I see him take the initiative to find ways to stay active. He has started to walk his dog down the street by himself pretty much every day. On Tuesday, I went out to see if he was heading back because I wanted to ask him something. He walked past our house and went over to Bob's house and stayed over there for about 10 minutes, having a chat with Bob. He was 'out and about'! On Wednesday, I had printed off some sample questions for the S.A.T. to see how well he would do and on one of the math problems he needed to know the formula for finding the hypotenuse. He could not remember it, so he skipped that question. When he was done with the math section he got up and went to his computer. He looked up the formula for the one question he could not do! The one area he did not even want to do was having to read the poetry example and then answer questions about it. In his defense, the example was typed very small and he said he didn't want to get a worse headache continuing to read that small print. But part of it was that he definitely wasn't interested in poetry - not at this time anyway. I am fairly sure though that Paul will be able to regain most of what has been lost. We are going to find someone who can do some tutoring on a regular basis until the time of the surgery.
Our main problem for moving Paul forward is the fact that we don't know what days he will be well enough to accomplish anything. On the days his headaches are really painful, almost everything about that day will not be remembered very well. So it is hard to plan things in advance for Paul. We know what kind of day it will be only when Paul has woken up. To plan things with much consistency is almost impossible. But, we are very encouraged by these last 2 weeks. He has stayed active everyday and has even done chores without us asking him! (Can that be labeled as a miracle??) I know he is mentally capable of so much more, but another issue is his low threshhold for becoming irritated. He has always had a streak of stubborness and not much has changed! Makes me remember that I purchased the book "The Strong Willed Child" after Paul turned 2.......smile. He certainly is becoming more clear about what he likes and doesn't like and is more verbal about it. We used to be able to just tell him what he needed to do and now he has a lot of questions about it and if it doesn't make sense to him, it becomes a hard sell for us. He can be pretty adamant about not wanting to do things too. The one thing he really hates is the fact that he has to drink 6-8 cups of water a day. He needs it for keeping his liver healthy due to the medication he takes and also, per the reconstructive surgeon, they want him well hydrated for the surgery. We had already been fighting the battle of getting him to drink a lot of water each day, and now that he has heard it from the surgeon, he has been a little more cooperative. We have to do a lot of 'tag teaming' as Jerry has labeled it. Where two or more are gathered, there is cooperation!

On this feast of the Epiphany, we thank God for the gift of Jesus, our light.
Happy New Year to all of you!
God bless you,
Jon and Rebecca