Day 8: Mikey Laughs

For most of the day Mikey was resting but toward the end of the day we had productive interaction for nearly a half hour. His medication schedule is in the process of changing; they are now giving him Percocet instead of the Morphine when his pain allows them to do so. Mikey did not make a whole lot of sense today; he muttered lots of things under his breath but we caught a few things that indicated that he seems to be coming out of the fog. He mentioned "45" and "S-curve" which are both things that described his accident. (45 was the speed limit and he was going around an S curve when the accident occurred.) At one point during his babble talk we told him that we could not understand him, but it was okay. He replied to this by letting out a short chuckle and a glowing smile illuminated his face. After the nurse told him that he had such a nice smile he responded nonchalantly "I know." Toward the end of our visit he began to wiggle around in his bed, at times writhing like he was in pain but when we asked him if he was hurting anywhere he said "Nope." Shortly thereafter he was given some Morphine and he promptly fell into a deep sleep. Keeping Mikey medicated reduces our time to interact, but it allows him to rest which ultimately helps him heal. Room 467A is now filling up with "Get Well Soon" balloons that sing Bob Marley upon request, countless cards, and pictures of Mikey. I showed him one picture that Mom printed up to put on his bulletin board and he responded "Picture, P-C-T-R." For some reason I cannot explain Mikey left out all of the vowels, yet he is still determined to show us that he is going to be just fine.