Monday, August 6, 2007

Dear Friends,

We had a nice weekend visit with Kevin. He has made a good deal of progress in the two weeks he has been at CNS. He is now using a cane which is helping a little with his instability. He has had no aggressive tendencies or foul language since the second day he arrived. Praise the Lord!

We had a good family conference Friday afternoon. Kevin's eye problem is still a major issue. He has not yet had an appointment with the Neuro-optometrist, but we are hopeful that will happen this week. We also expect that his stomach tube will be removed this week as he is eating very well. The doctor was wanting signed approval from the family before it was removed as well. I know Kevin will be glad once it's gone as it has become quite a nuisance for him.

As we expected, he is pretty physically weak after eleven weeks in bed. His physical therapist is working with him on strength and endurance as well as balance. Kevin is also working with speech, cognitive, and education rehabilitation. His memory is fair and he is regaining short-term memory. He can no longer remember his last job as an industrial plumbing apprentice which he had begun in February. He can, however, remember his brother's wedding which took place in March, but he thinks it was over a year ago. It's funny how he can remember bits and pieces but can't quite put the pieces together in the proper time frame. We will have our next family conference at the end of the month where we hope to have an even better report.

Friday evening we took him out to dinner at Johnny Rockets, a '50's style diner, where Kevin really enjoyed his hamburger. After wandering around for awhile we took him back to his apartment and visited with him there.

Saturday morning we picked him up just before lunch time as we had to wait until he had gone grocery shopping and finished his morning chores. We went to a local mall and had lunch at the food court. Kevin was happy to be out and about as he seems to get bored sitting at the apartment every evening. After wandering around the mall a little we went back to our hotel to rest a bit but that didn't last long as Kevin was ready to be out and about. Kevin talked almost non-stop the whole time, repeating himself over and over again as he just doesn't remember what he has already said. It was great to hear him initiate conversation on his own, though. He is frustrated with his memory gaps. He says he will sit at night trying to put everything together in his mind but he still can't get the pieces to fit. He feels like he is in a time warp and not living in a real world.

Kevin said he wished he had a Bible he could read as the one Sarah had brought from home was too small to see. I had put together a folder with quite a few verses I had printed out in large print on the computer which he said he had already read a few times. So, we stopped at a Wal-Mart hoping to find Kevin a large print Bible but one of the clerks said they didn't have any but gave us directions to the local Berean Christian Book Store where we were able to find him a giant print Bible. He was pleased with that. After eating dinner at Red Robin, one of Kevin's favorite places, we took him back to his apartment and visited with him and the family of the other client in his apartment.

Sunday morning we picked him up and headed to the church of some dear friends, Wayne and Connie. Wayne and Connie are the parents of a former pastor of ours. After morning worship service Wayne and Connie graciously invited us to their home for lunch where we enjoyed fried chicken with all the trimmings. After a nice visit we returned Kevin to the apartment and we then headed home.

We will visit Kevin again next weekend and this time Keith and Kim will be able to join us.

I will most likely be updating the blog only once a week unless something of urgency comes to our attention between our visits. I know I have thanked you many times, but thank you once again for your continued prayers. God is wonderfully and graciously answering them.

Love,
Tami