Dory

Mikey continues to improve. He walked all the way around the hospital (outside, WITHOUT assistance) today with Eli, but did not remember it (he says). It may be he is just tired of everyone asking him what he remembers and what he does not..............but we are told that short term memory loss is common, and should get better with time..........think Dory from Finding Nemo. In any event we are hoping and praying that the memory will continue to improve. He does remember how to read and write, and now will go to the bathroom when he needs to without having to be reminded, so this is all very steady and positive progress. I keep forgetting it has only been 7 weeks. Thanks to all of you who continue to follow this blog, continue to pray, and continue to visit. We appreciate every single thought, prayer, visit etc...........Until next time......xoxoxox Les

Merry Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas. Mikey opened all his presents, mostly clothes, and he LOVES his new hat--he had it on when I left after visiting yesterday. The therapy is scaled back due to the holiday, so yesterday was a resting day. Brian found a nice picture of him and Mikey in hockey, back in the day. I will post it here.

more time planned at acute rehab

We were told today that Mikey will be staying a bit longer than the 30th of this month. The rehab staffing on Monday came to the conclusion that they would like to keep him a bit longer before releasing him home and to outpatient services. They are estimating Jan 14th, and attempting to get that amount approved through insurance. Its possible that he may leave sooner than that, but they wanted to at least get the ball rolling. We are all fine with this, as we were a little stressed about Dec 30th looming. Although Mikey looks good, he still lacks insight into his condition (thats what the neuropsych said). He is always very agreeable, and says he is just fine, but we all know that he will need more time and therapy.......
Today I brought him some strawberries that a patient brought to me from Plant City. They were just picked this morning, very juicy and HUGE. He devoured most of the container, and we shared some with the sitter. Dad, Brian, Kati and Morgan came up for a visit today as well.

walking, talking THATS MY MIKEY :)

We just got back from a great visit. Mikey was wowing us all with his "strolling" along with the physical therapists. He was bouncing a basketball back and forth, catching it and later kicking it as he walked along. I also snapped the attached picture. He was in fine spirits and as always had a great appetite for ceasar salad from Crispers, a smoothie, and later a Checkers milkshake that Dad brought. Morgan asked him if he remembers the accident and he replied, "No, not that scary stuff like cracking my head open and all that". He watched a video of him skateboarding behind Ryan's truck and agreed that it was "crazy" of him to do.

SI swimsuits!

Morgan and I took over a Christmas present for Mikey from Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Rick. It was a Sports Illustrated 2010 swimsuit (and body paint) calendar--365 days of pictures. Mikey really really likes it. I put him on the phone with Jennifer and he was talking to her AND reading some of the dates/words on the calendar, so once Jennifer caught on she could make sense of it......(Like he was saying, "yeah that would be cool to see you sometime, maybe on April Fools Day") We are looking at a projected discharge date of 12/30/09. In the meantime we will be doing a home(s) assessment to see what kind of provisions we need in place.

Tick Tock

Its been a few days since updating, so here goes. Mikey continues to get better, steady progress. I knew he was trying to read things on the wall, so we looked at a National Geographic magazine, and he easily reads the headlines, and comments. He does tend to get agitated and is trying quite a bit to stand up and go "somewhere", like to the store, or just out of that room, which is not safe at this time. The rehabilitation staff has scaled back his visitors to one at a time, no tv, lights low, no ipod......and have posted some guidelines on managing him for the best progress. It seems that there is a very fine line betweeen stimulating him and over stimulating, which makes him regress. Today he was asking "What do I have to do?" maybe he means to get out of there.....I think I can speak for all of "us" to say that our emotions are like a roller coaster, with no idea of where we are going, only that here we are, and we continue to do the best we can. Just like Mikey, sometimes we do better than others, like yesterday I karate kicked a (cement) trash can, and although it hurt, it felt good!! Let me say this, I am not at all OK, but I am, if that makes any sense great, if not, oh well...............

Still Progressing

While working out in the field with my dad in Clermont I got a text message from my little sister Morgan. It said that Mikey was speaking to our Aunt Jennifer on the phone and he told her that "Brian was coming to visit him later." While Dad went to go get a 16 oz. Checkers milkshake, I went up to visit with Mikey. When I walked in the room he was restless, twisting and turning on his bed from side to side. At one point he had his head turned around toward the foot of the bed and was crawling as if he was trying to get off the bed. I said "Mikey, don't get out of your bed. It's not time for therapy. I think you should stay in your bed, don't you?" Mikey said "No, I think I should get up." I looked over to the nurse and she kind of shrugged her shoulders. I convinced Mikey to stay in his bed and not 5 minutes later he had a little accident. The nurse and I quickly realized that when Mikey was restlessly trying to escape from his hospital bed he was actually trying to tell us that he needed to use the bathroom. We explained to him that he should tell us when he needs to go; and if he can't tell us he should at least point to the bathroom. When Dad arrived with Mikey's usual Strawberry milkshake we were prepared for him to wrap his lips around that straw and pay little attention to anyone else in the room. He intently sucks that straw until every last drip of that milkshake is gone. We looked at some magazines. First I showed him a Surfing magazine and he said "Let me pick." I asked him which ones he liked and he responded "It doesn't matter, I just like the nice colors," which is not true because Mikey readily reads magazine headlines out loud. After showing him the latest ESPN he said "The Body Issue." We asked Mikey what he thought about visiting with Petey, his beloved dalmatian-pit bull mix and he laughed and muttered something about dogs being in the hospital. In the future we plan to get him in a chair so we can take him downstairs to see Petey in the parking garage. Mom brought him a stuffed animal from his childhood, an alligator puppet with a mouth that zips up. We asked Mikey what it was and he said "It looks like some kind of a stuffed frog." Close enough! While at Lakeland Regional we asked him to throw a little stress ball and after five minutes of intently staring at the ball in his hand he plopped it about six inches. Compare that to what he is doing now. Yesterday we batted around a balloon like we were playing a game of volleyball. We played around some with a Fisher Price type box with a variety of shapes. Though designed for toddlers, playing with the shapes helps his hand-eye coordination, recognition, and decision making. It took him a few minutes to figure it out but he eventually found the correct shapes and pushed them through the proper holes. When his doctor, who is from India, came in and asked how he was doing Mikey responded "he talks funny," which may be inappropriate but is surely a sign that his personality is returning.

getting settled into routine

Friday afternoon we found Mikey in the middle of his therapy, but visited in between. The therapists say he is doing well and getting worn out from all the activity. When asked if he recognizes Morgan, he says "yeah, that's my *#"*^!# sister". Saturday he had several visitors at the same time (grandma Jackie, Tommy, Lynne, Morgan and me and later Sabrina), so we took turns. He likes the chocolate :). Tommy looked at a motorcycle magazine with Mikey (thanks Rick J.!!) and he also has a Surf magazine to check out thanks to Aunt Linda. Mikey continues to use very colorful language, which is just fine with all of us (well maybe the aides object some but they all understand that this is normal for TBI{traumatic brain injury} patients--and they say other patients are much much worse). The food is great, and they say that Mikey devours everything they give him. Yesterday I selected his Sunday meal choices. The aide said that Mikey kept on saying "Sabrina", and Sabrina tells me that she offered Mikey a bribe to say her name while he was in Lakeland's hospital, so I guess Sabrina needs to pay up!!!! LOL.

Therapy and more therapy

Mikey had a busy first day in rehab. Breakfast first, then a meeting with the neuropsychologist, next was physical therapy(PT), occupational therapy(OT), speech therapy, then lunch. Then PT, OT, and speech again. The PT tried a walker, but since his left side is stronger than his right side he was going in circles. He initiated several steps, and can "scoot" himself upright in his chair. He asked me "what did you guys do to my arm?" when I was massaging his shoulders. He still curses when people are messing with him. He was saying something, and I thought he was saying his name, but it turns out he was trying to read a sign over his bed that said "mechanical diet" then he said "there are about a hundred things there", meaning lots of words on the sign. I was visiting in between therapy sessions. By 3:15 he was conked out , no doubt tired from all the therapy. Yesterday he said "whats up Dad?" when Tommy walked into the room. :) He says hi to people when they come into his room, and when the OT asked if he remembered her, he said "I think so.". I am thrilled with his steady progress and this new place is awesome. Gina (my friend) has a brother who is his nurse, and Heather (another friend of mine) was helping the OT. For now, all the therapy is taking place in his room to keep stimulation/noise down. After a while they plan on doing more therapy in the "gym" or the "day room". Tomorrow Morgan and I are going over to visit. Jake and Olivia (cousins--my sister Jennifer's children) sent Mikey a package with cards, which I will deliver along with more street clothes.

Rehab for Mikey

Yesterday Dad, Lynne, and I visited Mikey in the evening as he got settled in to his new room at the Joy Fuller Rehabilitation Center at the Winter Haven Hospital. Seeing Mikey removed from the IVs, tubes, etc. and in regular clothing as opposed to his hospital gown was really nice. We sat with him as he polished off a heaping plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, and applesauce. Not only did he have the appetite of a predatory lion he also was meticulous in his eating to make sure that he did not dribble any food on his chin. Though he has not quite developed the motor skills to feed himself with a fork, he uses his tongue to lick any stray food from his lips. At one point a tiny glob of mashed potatoes was on his hand and he quickly wiped it off with a napkin. Dad and I would load up his fork and put it in his left hand and he would shovel it right in with no problems, however his right side is still not up to par. I don't care; Mikey can be a lefty from now on if he wants.

Next step, rehab!

Mikey was transported to Winter Haven today for intensive rehabilitation. The first few days are full of various professional's assessments, visits, data gathering, chart review etc.....They have a neuropsycholgist, a M.D., social workers, physical therapist/occupational therapist, speech therapist, respiratory therapist, they all started coming in introducing themselves. My friend Gina's brother is "nurse of the year" on that unit, and another friend Heather has worked on the unit for 8 yrs now. Mikey's room overlooks the lake, on the seventh floor of the Swann building of Winter Haven hospital. Today while waiting for the transport I was handing him Cheetos', which he gobbled up {he always likes Cheeto's}. He's pretty funny--the doctors and nurses ask him questions, and he just looks at them with a serious look, then when they leave the room he chuckles and starts talking. Morgan and Mikey were having a stare down while I was talking to the doctors/nurses/therapists--every time Morgan cracked a smile Mikey would smile too, same sweet dimples. This was the first time Morgan has been able to see him except that little visit in the parking garage. Winter Haven hospital allows children to visit. For those wanting to visit, I am told visitation is from 3pm-8pm daily, only 2 visitors at a time.

first solid (albiet soft) food :)

Mikey had his first solid meal--chicken and rice plus a nice buttered dinner roll. Although he still lacks the coordination to manage a fork/spoon, when I put the dinner roll in his hand he ate it (one bite at a time). He surely has no problems chewing, swallowing or digesting his food. I think he heard us talking about tomorrow because he started saying something about two o'clock. At approximately 2:00 tomorrow (Dec 2) he will be transported to rehab at the Winter Haven Hospital. The address is: Winter Haven Hospital
Swann 7 Joy Fuller Rehabilitation Center
Attn Mikey Rosegger
200 Ave F NE
Winter Haven, Fl. 33881
Until next update, xoxoxox Les/Momma