Son’s status after 3 months:
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and kindness over the past few months. I really appreciate everyone’s support in our journey to Andrew’s recovery.
Yesterday was an amazing day! Andrew said “Mom, I love you” 2 times yesterday – I had tears both times. This past week has seen tremendous improvement. Prior to Wednesday I had not heard Andrew’s voice since March 19th. Then on Wednesday I heard him say YES to a question. Then, on Thursday he took it to a new level and was trying to say sentences, some understandable and some not. However, one question was asked of him and he distinctly said “No, I want to go home.”
His trach tube came out on Sunday (an unplanned event as he pulled it out for the 3rd time). The doctor and nurses agreed to just leave it out and see how he would do, as the plan was for it to come out on Wednesday anyway. He did fine, so that is one less thing for him to pull out. We met with the neurosurgeon yesterday and Andrew is being scheduled for the cranium replacement surgery week after next. That will entail a minimum of 3 days in the hospital (ORMC), some of that time in ICU. We are progressing to eventually remove the feeding tube. A “swallow test” (involves a fiber optic camera) will be done today at 1PM. He is able to tolerate small sips of water already, so we are not expecting issues on this.
Andrew is now able to get into a standing position on his own (with 2 people standing by him) and can make steps assisted. His right side is significantly weaker, especially the arm/hand. There is still hope that this will progress with more therapy, and we are seeing improvement daily.
After the cranium replacement we are looking towards getting Andrew in more advanced therapy with a specialized neuro rehab facility. At that point we are hopeful for much more progress such as what we have seen in the past week. Thanks everyone!
(From Marilyn: Again, thank you all for your prayers and thoughts!)
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and kindness over the past few months. I really appreciate everyone’s support in our journey to Andrew’s recovery.
Yesterday was an amazing day! Andrew said “Mom, I love you” 2 times yesterday – I had tears both times. This past week has seen tremendous improvement. Prior to Wednesday I had not heard Andrew’s voice since March 19th. Then on Wednesday I heard him say YES to a question. Then, on Thursday he took it to a new level and was trying to say sentences, some understandable and some not. However, one question was asked of him and he distinctly said “No, I want to go home.”
His trach tube came out on Sunday (an unplanned event as he pulled it out for the 3rd time). The doctor and nurses agreed to just leave it out and see how he would do, as the plan was for it to come out on Wednesday anyway. He did fine, so that is one less thing for him to pull out. We met with the neurosurgeon yesterday and Andrew is being scheduled for the cranium replacement surgery week after next. That will entail a minimum of 3 days in the hospital (ORMC), some of that time in ICU. We are progressing to eventually remove the feeding tube. A “swallow test” (involves a fiber optic camera) will be done today at 1PM. He is able to tolerate small sips of water already, so we are not expecting issues on this.
Andrew is now able to get into a standing position on his own (with 2 people standing by him) and can make steps assisted. His right side is significantly weaker, especially the arm/hand. There is still hope that this will progress with more therapy, and we are seeing improvement daily.
After the cranium replacement we are looking towards getting Andrew in more advanced therapy with a specialized neuro rehab facility. At that point we are hopeful for much more progress such as what we have seen in the past week. Thanks everyone!
(From Marilyn: Again, thank you all for your prayers and thoughts!)