Saturday, July 14, 2007

Dear Friends,

It is hard to believe it has now been almost ten weeks since Kevin's accident. At times it feels like ten months. As I look back at all we have been through, I know it is your constant prayers that are keeping us on our feet and sane; well, almost sane. This has been a week of many emotional ups and downs. Traumatic brain injury is such a terrible and complex thing.

I will try and describe in more detail what we typically go through so that you might get a glimpse of the physical, emotional, and spiritual upheaval we go through and possibly understand why it is so difficult and exhausting for us to talk about this and why we so desperately need your prayers.

Kevin's mood can change in the flash of an eye. At times he is a bit of his normal self, is calm, cooperative, able to recognize us and answer questions. The next moment he can become extremely agitated with screaming, yelling, crying, throwing punches, being uncooperative, cursing (yes, cursing is a normal thing associated with brain injury), and not able to recognize us. At other times deep depression sets in as he catches glimpses of his situation. Any of these episodes can lasts minutes, hours, or days, and Kevin has no control over any of it. However, all of this is a good thing in a way because this is a normal pattern of recovery. All we can do is to over and over again explain to him what has happened as he can hardly remember one moment to the next. We have to constantly remind him what happened to him, where he is, and reassure him that he is making progress and that it will take time for him to heal.

Kevin has made further progress toward being moved to Bakersfield. The last thing that needed to happen was to have his catheter removed and that was accomplished last evening. We will be making a call to his case worker, Peggy, on Monday to see if we can get someone from the Centre for Neuro Skills to come out and reevaluate him and possibly get him moved by the end of next week.

We would like your prayers with regards to Peggy. The insurance carrier has told Peggy that once Kevin is moved to Bakersfield they will be assigning another case worker to Kevin. Peggy was as surprised as we were to hear this as it is customary for a case worker to follow the patient all the way through rehab. None of us want another case worker nor can we imagine anyone better than Peggy. She doesn't see Kevin as just a job she has to do. She sees and treats Kevin and all of us with genuine compassion, dignity, and respect and keeps Kevin's needs at the forefront. We trust her and very much need this one constant in all the chaos.

Kevin's eye problems are becoming more and more apparent and are extremely disconcerting to him. To the best we can tell, it seems he has almost no vision in his right eye. One of the fractures was at his right eye. We are still hoping and praying that as the brain heals his vision will improve. The Centre for Neuro Skills will be able to assess and treat this problem more effectively.

As we continue our journey through this difficult dessert, we are still trusting God to perform a miracle and restore Kevin to us completely. But whatever happens, God will hold us and sustain us in His mighty arms and help us with whatever lies ahead. As I have told Kevin over and over again, "He will never leave you or forsake you".

To God Be The Glory,
Tami