Wednesday, February 3, 2010

What happened yesterday

Big day for us all yesterday. Joel had a great visit from his great mates. These guys are legends, the sorta friends that you want your kids to have. His 4 best (male) mates have all visited in the last 2 days and it has been very good for him. Joel still gets tired quickly with visitors but we are sure it will help in his motivaion to get better and I think they all get excited when they see the changes in him. 

The last few days he has scored 10 for his PTA test but yesterday got 11. The staff are happy with this but as we have already said his improvment will be much more rapid when he has reached the milestone of 12 x 3 days. But wait there's more...Joel did a 55 minute session with the physio and stood up (with help to get up). He actually stood on his own two feet for 2 minutes with a physio behind him and in front of him to help support him.  There was a bit of swaying as he concentrated to stay upright but they clocked him for 120 seconds. The 2 main reasons for his lack of drive and motivation is his fatigue level and due to frontal lobe damage in his brain. He is still struggling to see close up but his distance sight is good...although he sometimes squints one eye in order to focus.

Yesterday we had a 'round the table' family confrence with the staff that are involved in his care. They are all very encouraged and excited about how much progress Joel has made in the first week here. Although the speed at which he is improving is extremely good they emphasised that we are still looking at about  3 months before he will be ready to come home.  The thing that hit me was how encouraging and positive this meeting was about the future. The time frame is a calculated test as it all depends on Joel and how he is responding.

Prayer points:
That Joel's eye sight would be healed
That his intrinsic motivation would start
That his legs would continue to strengthen (especially the left side)
12 for 3 consecutive days in his PTA
Praise and thanks for what has and will happen!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Praise God for Joel's progress. It seems that fatigue from brain trauma can last for years, whilst slowly improving, and is the most frustrating outcome of such an accident, especially for young and fit people after the rest of the body is healed and functioning well again. But that can be managed by taking naps through the day to refresh. We will continue to pray for his restoration to perfect health. Derek and Claire Warren, BBC.

Eamon said...

Kia Ora Bro
So encouraging to hear, we are walking with you and believing in a God who is able to do much much more than we can ever ask or imagine...that's who our God just is :)
Kia Kaha in Him
Eamon and Emma

Jonathan Robinson said...

great to hear such encouraging progress. God bless you guys.

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