Day 3: Mikey Speaks

Though Mikey remained combative and restless for the majority of the day he finally relaxed, opened his eyes and attempted to make conversation. Upon opening his eyes and realizing where he was and who was there with him he lightheartedly muttered "Damn." Most of his talking is mumbled, garbled, and confusing; he does not make a lot of sense. In his mind he is making perfect sense, however the swelling of his brain has required his thoughts to take an alternate route through the highly complex network of neurons in his brain. He has earned a reputation as being quite the rascal. He is constantly finding new ways to get out of whatever restraints the nurses can concoct. They fitted him with a vest that keeps his body up toward the top of the bed so he can no longer scoot his body down to reach his hands to his face. As he struggled in an attempt to scratch his nose I reached out and scratched it for him, leading him to mutter "that's my big brother." He conversed for twenty or thirty minutes, most of it his rambling jibber-jabber but we didn't care; we just nodded our heads and said yes. This frustrates him immensely because he is legitimately trying to communicate with us and he does not understand why we don't respond to the things he says. At times he winces which does not indicate pain, but rather his facial reaction to our attempt to repeat some of the things he says; this is his way of saying "you did not understand what I said, but thats ok."