Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Yahooee!!!

Yep you guessed it; Joel is now officially out of PTA! …And this on the 6th week anniversary of the accident. We are rapt about this as his progress will improve even more (apparently). He is very excited about it coz he doesn’t get asked the ‘questions’ again. Anne got him all wired in the physio session. Not as bad as it sounds… she put electrodes on his leg in the appropriate place and when the button got pushed, hey presto up came his left foot. This proves that the nerves and muscles all work properly and it’s more an issue of brain power telling his foot to move… but early days and we continue to pray. She did this with him for 20 or so minutes with his left foot flicking up every time the red button was pushed down. Weird to watch. Then some more time on balancing and walking properly finished off a good session.

Yesterday I alluded to Joel having to re learn some social skills. Often in brain injury patients some of the ‘social screening’ that we use to be appropriate in our speech etc is affected. This is sometimes evident with Joel in his dealings with staff and others. Sometimes we think things but don’t say them as we know we shouldn’t…well brain injury patients sometimes just blurt them out. Now Joel ain’t too bad in this area but he is seeing everything very ‘black and white’ and taking most comments very literally. This also makes him a bit argumentative when he has reasoned through something and he doesn’t always accept that others have a different point of view.

We went out for a coffee this arvo …wheelchair in the boot, wife and daughter relegated to the back seat and we are away. All goes well till we come to what was supposed to be road works. You know the type, where there are a few scattered road cones, no workers, no machinery, no obstacles and no reason for the 30 signs placed on the side of the road. Any way I slowed down and hit the 30 area doing 40 (I won’t need any comments bout my driving if that’s ok). Well Joel takes exception, “dad the sign said 30, slow down” “ok,” “dad you’re doing 35 slow down to 30,” “I think this is alright son,” “no dad do 30,” “how’s that?” “Dad that’s 32, slow down to 30.” I slowed to 30 and by the time we got out the other end to the 70 sign and my literal friend next to me gave me the all clear to accelerate… there was a large queue of traffic following us at snail pace. Hmm this could be interesting. [He was just joking around but it’s sometimes hard to tell if he’s kidding or serious.]

At the beginning of the week the three ladies that do all the work with him, physiotherapist, speech therapist and occupational therapist, gave him a list of goals to reach for the week. Some of these were more long term like his speech goals, but of the remaining 10, he only has one to achieve and that is to stand for 3 minutes with no support. He will do it tomorrow. Gosh my son I’m proud of you!

5 comments:

Heather Ballantyne said...

Yay! What fab progress. Go that left leg...

Dave said...

Thank you God for the awesome progress, i am continuing to pray for the conection and healing of brain to move fully that left leg.
Praying daily and reading your blog, mmm should people post more often, just to encourage you we are there with you?

Lizitam said...

Flippin AWESOME! That's fantastic news! I'm proud of you too Joel, and I heardly know you! It's been a privelege to pray with you guys, so amazing seeing God's affirmative, quick and merciful answers. Thanks for building our faith. Loving it.
Liz and thetamfam BBC

Unknown said...

Wonderful news. So good to hear of Joel's daily improvement, you must be really encouraged. We continue to trust God for total healing in every part of Joel's body, especially his brain functions. Derek and Claire Warren BBC

Moira said...

Hey, are all of us parents with 17 year old sons thinking the same thing? Our son, who is one of Joel's many friends, says things to me with a very straight face and deadpan voice. It takes me a while to figure out if he is serious or joking. Joel sounds just the same in that respect, and the same as all his other mates too. :)

We are another family praying with you all....with happiness and gratitude. And delighting in the daily progress.
Love from Moira

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