Memories!

Graham Update Day 41 (7/19/14)

The past two days have been very good for Graham.  It's been 41 days since his accident and 22 days since brain surgery, and he continues to show steady progress despite a rough start to the week.  In the past two days Graham has turned into a human pin-cushion, a magician of sorts, and continues to show more and more of his funny personality.

There are some things that Graham has, not surprisingly, struggled with since his accident.  He really hasn't shown much of a short-term memory at all.  Things definitely become familiar to him, but he hasn't recalled details from previous days or even hours that he normally would.  For example - as much as he enjoyed seeing Spiderman outside his window about a week ago, he didn't remember it the next day.  Nor does he recall things like what he ate or did earlier in the same day.

The day we got back to Children's, I asked Graham in the E.R. "what is your favorite thing to do?"  He gave one of the best answers he's given since the accident: "Play with my Lego Friend, Parker," - his best friend from school.  Well yesterday Graham was elated to see one of his favorite visitors yet - his friend Parker.  They sat in Graham's bed next to each other for about an hour, chatting and building Legos.  It was very therapeutic for Graham, and even after Parker left Graham seemed to be more aware of everything around him.  In fact, when speech therapy asked Graham "Where are you right now?"  Graham answered - the hospital.  It was the first time Graham was able to identify where he was without any sort of prompting, and a VERY good sign for his healing brain. 

The best surprise stemming from Graham's "Lego Friend Parker" came today though.  Graham got a visit from his brothers, and Brode closely inspected the new Lego set that Graham and Parker put together.  Brode asked Graham where he got it.  His answer?  "I built it with my friend Parker."  It is literally the first time we have seen Graham demonstrate his short-term memory, and it is both a huge blessing and a relief!  Quietly, I've had visions of that Adam Sandler / Drew Barrymore movie "50 First Dates," where Adam's love-interest loses her short-term memory.  Not a comforting thought at al, so seeing a functional memory from Graham is a HUGE breath of fresh air.

Graham is really coming along in his therapy.  He can now stand without any balance assistance - 100% on his own - for about 20 seconds.  He can also take about 8 steps completely unassisted.  He can stand on his own and throw a ball.  Write his name with either hand (he was predominantly left-handed but largely ambidextrous before the accident), and no longer shows any weakness at all on his right side.  When shown pictures of various superheroes, he also recalls their names much faster, even the more "obscure" (to Graham anyway) heroes like Hulk and Ironman. 

In spite of all the blessings we have received during Graham's miraculous recovery, we still do more than our fair share of worrying, both about Graham and our other kids.  I have extreme anxiety doing simple things like walking Rocco through a parking lot or watching them play around the coffee table.  I'm not sure if there is a named phobia for "fear of your child receiving a traumatic brain injury" but if there is - I have it.  And then with Graham we of course worry all the time - about his sodium, Graham falling, seizures, you name it.  But last night we had a very strange reason to be nervous:  a UFO.  Yes, an Unidentified Foreign Object was found in Graham's diaper.

This is of course very concerning for many reasons.  What is it?  How did he eat that?  What else did he eat?  Is anything stuck?  Is he in danger?  After hours of consulting with the nursing staff and getting an x-ray to make sure his UFO was flying solo, we think we finally figured it out - it was a cap from a blood-draw procedure that they were trying to spare his little pin-cushion fingers, and we are fairly certain that he somehow stuck it in just the right place to make it seem as though it has passed through his digestive system.  The x-ray showed no other foreign objects in his body, so our little scare turned into much ado about nothing.

I've mentioned a couple times now how Graham has turned into the human pin cushion, and here is the evidence:

Every 6 hours Graham has to get pricked so they can draw about 3 milliliters of blood - enough to fill up a very small vial, and significantly more than a diabetic would need to put on a testing strip. So they prick his little fingers and milk them for about 5 minutes.  But in spite of his bruised little fingers, Graham never complains and powers through all his normal activities with his mummy hands.  He even finds ways to be funny with them.  He was going to the bathroom yesterday and before he released the hounds, he held up all the bandaged fingers on one hand, put them in my face, and said "wait for it....wait for it....wait for it.....aaaaaah" and then let loose.  It's "so Graham" and its so satisfying for us to see the return of his awesome personality.

We're very grateful for Graham's continued progress, and are so grateful for all the wonderful doctors, nurses, and good prayerful folks near and far who make his recovery possible.  There was a time - especially the day of his accident - when our faith in God gave us comfort in knowing that if Graham were to pass, our family would be together forever and we would see him again.  It was a great comfort.  But we are grateful that the immediacy of those thoughts have passed, and we can now stand back more and just be grateful for all the miracles we see daily in his recovery.  Thanks again for all who help it to happen.

#Prayers4Graham