What a delight it is to see Darryl sleeping deeply, restfully and calmly. You can almost see the healing going on it is so blissful. It may sound something unremarkable but for five and a half weeks Darryl has battled the storming which has plagued him. Restful sleep is something almost forgotten to him. So to see it now is something I want to bottle!
Another positive development came today when Darryl was loaded up into another lazy boy of the hot rod variety and was wheeled outside for the first time in almost weeks. It doesn’t end there, as he was simply in transit to the gym, Jim, but not as we know it! Wow, what a delight it was to see him being stretched on the large benchs they have there. One of the physios got behind him and while sitting on a swiss ball, with another locking his feet down to the floor, his torso was twisted pulled and stretched, all of which was welcomed with a series of thumbs up. Again, it was good to see Darryl getting some sort of physical work which I know he has literally been aching for.
Of course the trick is to not overdo it, as he tires very quickly and too much can be too exhausting which then causes set backs. So it’s baby gym steps, but good stuff all the same.
During the session he was able to keep his eyes open (just partially open) at times which is a great sign that the damage to the 3rd nerve that controls so much of the eye function, including opening, may be starting to resolve. We hope this is the case, but time will tell. We are spending a lot of time opening his eyes for him and stimulating some sort of normal eye opening and blinking activities to see if the neurons responsible for this will start to spark up.
As mentioned earlier we are now confident he has risen from the coma and is in a low level of conciousness but he is conscious and now we are getting the second part of the deal, the eyes open, a fraction of a millimeter at a time. It funny how I have come to measure success in such tiny gradients, but success in respective and any amount of it is a damn sight better than none at all!
This morning for example I arrived to see Darryl awake and we went through our usual greeting process of thumbs up. The night before I had been wondering at about 3 am if in fact Darryl could also signal with other fingers on his hand, other than his thumb. In any event I said to Darryl that to give his thumb a break how about he held up two fingers – bang, up went his forefinger and index finger. OK then how about three – bang, up went three. Four then – bang, and then five. Sharp as a dart. I surprised the physios with this at the gym also. Just as before he repeated his newest party trick. Then to add a little to that I asked him to raise his hand toward the ceiling, which he did. He could only get his hand to just above his head given the toning in his arms restricting his muscle extension, but it was purposeful and controlled.
Then we took it to another level with him reaching for a small coloured cone and gripping it and then passing it back to me. He could only reach 8 inches or so, but he did it in a controlled and purposeful manner and it was excellent control. I suggested to the physio that there may be another motivator that I had tried two and a half weeks ago in hospital. It was a little of an eyebrow raiser when I said I had a stubbie of beer that I used as a trigger for senses earlier. They said to grab it, which I duly did.
I opened one of his eyes and put it out in front of him. “Here you go Darryl, have a beer”. To which he slowly reached out, gripped it and slowly brought the top of it to his mouth!!! I swear it if it didn’t have to cap on it he would have had a swig as well. Brilliant!
This may sound a little ‘odd’, but we had been told that familiar smells were a good thing to help stimulate consciousness and the two most ’stirring’ smells I could think of for Darryl was his smelly cattle dogs and a fresh beer. So I snuck a stubbie into the hospital a couple of weeks ago, popped the top and put it under his nose and told him to sniff. What a reaction! He sniffed alright. He just about snorted the top inch of the stubbie and his arms moved all over the place.
I said Darryl do you know what that is and the thumbs up rocketed up and just about poked his own eye out. It was the best one we had seen ever. A day later the same process but with a nice coffee illicited the same reaction although not quite as enthusastically. But very definitive responses. I know it’s unconventional but if it floats the boat it’s worth a go.
So the physios were impressed by his control with the beer, but later I was reminded that it is an alcohol and drug free environment, so that is the last Darryl will see of Dad’s beerotherapy! I’ll use his dog whislte, because he’s done the same with that.
Aside from this he was able to look at two different coloured cones and track his eyeball on command to each colour. Another milestone to add to his slowly growing list.
It is slow and the successes are in some cases minute, but it fills me with pride and refuels the tanks with hope and possiblity. It was a very good first week in the rehab and while I am more often scared to celebrate too confidently success for fear of a set back that can often follow, it is hard not to feel encouraged that there are more forward steps than not, small or not.
Darryl, the belief I have in you is matched only by the love I feel for you. The hope and possiblity I hold onto are like keys to open the doors that have closed in front of you, but I know in my heart that your courage and will are really the ‘key’ and there is no door that you can’t open with that.
Keep passing the test of you mate.
Dad
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