Happy Thanksgiving

Well, we made it through Thanksgiving and we are all still alive :)
We had a great time with family and were especially thankful to be sharing the holiday with dad and being able to be home and not in the hospital. I think dad enjoyed the festivities as much as was possible considering what he has been through and only being home for a couple of days. We had a VERY full house with lots of people which made him pretty tired but he was able to get a little rest and still join us most of the time. Thanks for a fun day everyone, I love you!

Nov. 28 11:56 pm

O.K. Remember when I said "the hardest part is yet to come"? Well this better be it! I'm still very sick. David was up all night Wednesday night throwing up. I took some cold medicine and put pies in the oven at about 11:pm and about midnight Emily was waking me up asking what she should do with the pies. That was also when I heard David. Emily was taking a cup of water to him as she did a couple more times. My day started at about 3:am with cleaning the bathroom, which I did again at about 5:am. I put the turkey in the oven an hour late and didn't realize it had frozen a bit (I bought a fresh one so as not to have to defrost) in the back of my refrigerator so it was done just in time for Steve to carve it for me before they left. We had ham. I couldn't smell or taste anything due to my cold....

Even so, it was Thanksgiving. We were quite a group with 8 adults and 12 children. Jen and Steve with Matthew, Jacob, Julie, and Abbie, also Ali and Jordan and Scot and Cheri and their 4 children Jazzmin, Ashly, Lexus, and Lisa. (Scot is my brother's eldest son) It was great! I gave Levi his Zyprexa and 7 adults and 12 children tried to stay quiet. :) I must say it really was the quietest Thanksgiving I can remember, except for the t.v. Levi had blaring in the living room!

Scot said he would bring the ham at Christmas and I promised NOT to make a turkey! Scot makes the best ham, the kind I remember from way back. He puts a wonderful glaze on it along with pineapple rings and maraschino cherries, YUM! My children still talk about the one last year.

So, Levi news: He is impossible. Trying to stay one step ahead of him is getting ridiculous. He gets up and puts on his brace while sitting on the edge of the bed. He takes it off when he goes in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure he got a drink of water today while he was in the bathroom. I heard a lot of coughing. This could be sort of a good thing. In his last swallow test he still couldn't recognize fluid going down the wrong way and wouldn't cough it up. So if he was coughing because of sneaking a cup of water then Woo-Hoo! But if not then he may be getting the cold everyone is getting. Not sure. I asked the speech therapist if someone could regularly check his lungs to make sure he is not getting fluids in there. She'll find out. She is not trained to do so. His physical therapist took him for a very long walk on Wednesday and again today. He is complaining of some back pain and his elbow still hurts. The Dr. said he will probably need surgery in about 6 months to fix the elbow. He said they took another x-ray and saw that there might be a something or other (medical term according to Kelly) where the tendon tears off a piece of bone fragment, and something about calcification due to the brain injury-made sense when he said it. :) They're not sure why they didn't see it before. Anyway, 2 more months of the brace and 6 months of elbow pain but he is so wanting to get back to work. I know he would also like to drink a tall glass of water. Work and water and life would be great! I've told him a few times (because he has little to no short term memory) that he is very blessed to be walking and so he needs to keep the brace on to protect his spine. Each time he just looks at me and says "I didn't know that. I guess I am." He is having a hard time accepting that there are things he can't do right now, but he does recognize that he has been greatly blessed.

It's 1:20 am so I think I'm finished for now. Maybe Jen can fill in some details of Thanksgiving. I'm at a point where I lump it all together, call it good or bad, and file it away. As we were taught in our "Time Out" conference in Logan, "bless and release". (It kinda looses something when you can't see the physical motions that go with it-just ask when you see me and I'll show you).

O.K. good night/morning!

Nov. 25 9 p.m.

Woooooow.... He's home. We brought him home about 2:45 ish. It took the pharmacy so long to fill his Rx so we were late for our 2:30 appt. with the Rehab people at the house. Also the guy with the grab bars came at the same time. Levi was annoyed with people being there so he just went to lay on the couch upstairs for awhile. After everyone left and I took Emily to her driving lesson he got busy. David called to tell me that Levi was "fixing" the furnace. Ali tried to distract him but it didn't work. He was changing the filter. He also cleaned up some water that gathers in the bottom of the refrigerator. He ordered the children around a bit. They fortunately had scouts and YW to go to. This will be a big adjustment. He wasn't home very much before the accident then he was gone for two months.

Regarding the care at IMED; there are a lot of really good people there but they do seem to have a communication, staffing, and training difficulty. I'm sure it is something they are working on. It is such a stark difference to go from ICU to rehab. Unfortunately it has been my experience through many years that often the staff dismisses the remarks of the patient or family. I noticed this most when in labor and I always do as they say because I second guess myself. I hope I've learned to speak up. Always ask all the questions you have until you are satisfied with the answers and watch out for side stepping answers. (I think I recognize those from growing up around salesmen.) Dr. Ryser was very good about answering questions clearly. :) Trust your instincts and inspiration. Also, read a lot. I think things would have gone a little smoother if I had been able to be there 24/7 simply because I know Levi and they don't. I am grateful for those that were well trained and caring.

So here is a glimpse of what they had to deal with. Levi told me he had to figure out something he could put his food in so he could throw it away. (that way they would think he had eaten it and stop bothering him) The other day he told me he doesn't eat he just flushes it down the toilet! He has called the nurses useless and the doctors retarded. etc. etc....

We have and aide coming in every day for about 10 hours. I was thinking that was too long to have a stranger hanging around. After one afternoon and evening at home I'm re-thinking that.
I was worried that when he got home he would not listen to us and I was right. We have to get a definite routine in place so he will hopefully begin to "go with the flow".

My refiner's fire has been stoked. It amazes me that the Lord trusts me with this. Levi can really use your prayers now because I'm who he has to rely on the other 14 hours of the day.
(Yikes, I had to check my math on that. There are still 24 hrs. in a day , right?)

I'm wondering if by the end of the week I might have to take Levi's meds over to Evelynn (our neighbor) just so I'm not tempted to take them myself! I think I could really use some mood enhancing and anxiety squashing help. :)

Anyway, we are embarking on a new adventure. We would still love to have visitors but I'm not sure just yet when his therapies will be during the day and I will be trying to get dinner on the table by 6 p.m. so I'm guessing that from 7-8 p.m. would be clear beyond that just give us a call.

Oh, Dr Ryser told Levi today that he is not to drive a car and he cannot work for the remainder of this year. Even though Levi realizes that is only about a month, he is still very unhappy. I'm sure that he is now thinking that Dr. Ryser is retarded/useless.

I am rambling through this post and Levi is needing something so thank you all for your comments and prayers. I'm sure there will be much to post tomorrow! :)

Nov. 23 11:17 a.m.

Again, sorry for not posting the last couple of days. I have been very sick. We did take Levi to lunch yesterday. The OT chose The Noodle Company because it was the most conducive to his diet. He did pretty well until he went into the bathroom. He went in and locked the stall then took off his brace. He is no longer on "one on one" even though he keeps trying to get up without the brace or take it off while he is sitting up. We have just under 2 months to deal with this.


Levi got up the other night to look through his wardrobe for something and fell. He did have his brace on thank goodness. He fell sort of on his tailbone then went on back and hit his head on the floor. The nurse ran in to get him up and check him out. Levi is the one who told me about it, not the staff. I told the Dr., he had not heard about it either.


Levi is complaining about the hearing in his left ear so they are checking that out. He can no longer straighten out his right elbow completely so I asked again for them to find out why so we can do something about it.


When we got there yesterday his feeding tube was gone. They said it got plugged up and they couldn't fix it so they had to take it out. The Dr. had said he would be happy if Levi could eat 1800 calories even though they were pushing for 2200. He ate about 1300 the day before. At this point he needs to eat more so they don't have to put the tube back in. He is supposed to eat that many cals. for three days before they take out the tube so I'm not sure he will be able to accomplish that before Tuesday. They are all talking about sending him home on Tuesday.

I guess that means someone should be contacting me tomorrow to come put in the bars in the shower and by the toilets. A lot to do in a couple of days!

I'm too sick to go to the hospital today so I might not post again until Monday night. Levi has learned to use the phone and calls me frequently, so maybe he will call me about something I can post tonight. We'll see. :)

Nov. 20 6:48 p.m.

I'm so sorry I haven't written in a couple of days. I've had a couple of hard days but things are good. Levi is eating more. I asked if they could bring him between meal snacks and they thought that might be a good idea. He probably had a little more than 1,000 calories today. He needs to have 2,000 in order to get the tube out. His swallow test still wasn't good. He can't drink liquids unless they are thickened because they go down the wrong way and he doesn't know it, he doesn't cough it out. I think he is doing better with the thickening stuff though. He tolerates it in Sprite and in the juice from the fruit cup.

David and I went for a walk with Levi and John (the nurse) last night to the gift shop. Levi seemed to enjoy himself but he got tired quickly. Really, I guess it wasn't that quickly. He went from his room to the elevator then to the shop and all around it before he had to sit down. Not bad actually. David bought a 3Musketeers candy bar and Levi was teasing him about giving it to him. I asked him if he really wanted one and he said he would try it. So David went back and bought two more. Levi ate about 1/4 of one at that time and about 1/3 of the other one today.

He also ate one of the fruit cups from Cookietree and a couple of cups of thickened Sprite. It was a good night!

Levi is also clearing a little more each day but he is still confused about why he has to stay there. He is always talking about going somewhere. He was going to get ready to go Christmas shopping with us yesterday, thus the trip to the gift shop. He still forgets a lot from hour to hour but I think he is remembering more than he is forgetting. They have him in what I call a drug induced stage 5. Stage 4 and 5 are very similar except for the agitation and they are giving him meds for that.

In their Tuesday meeting they decided to keep Levi another week. They will review again this coming Tuesday.

He has a pass for Saturday so we can really go out to do something. Maybe shop or go to lunch. The recreation therapist will go with us and teach us how to get him in and out of a car, etc. It is as much about teaching us how to assist as it is about seeing how he does in public. (Yikes, we'll be sure he gets his meds that day!) He keeps saying he is going to go do his cleaning jobs but if we give him about an hour notice he can make sure he gets done to have lunch with us. He also wants a few hours off to go into work to catch up on a few things because "I haven't been there for 6 weeks". He asks me every day "what day is this for you guys?" He says we are on different days.

He yelled at David about his homework so I'm not sure if his meds were wearing off or if that was a moment of normalcy. (lol)

We have been very blessed. It seems our requests have been in accordance with the Lord's will. It doesn't always work out that way. A very sweet lady I worked with at Farnsworth
Elem. was found at the foot of her stairs last Saturday. They did CPR and transported her to IMED. She has been in the ICU where they did tests to determine if there were any brain waves. Sadly there were none. She was disconnected from life support today. I don't know why one family has a good outcome and another doesn't, especially when she was very needed by her family. Of course we know that everything we experience in life is necessary for own exaltation and the Lord certainly knows best. He can see the finish line that for us is obscured by daily life. He knows what's on the path ahead of us and we do best when we place out trust in Him. My thoughts and prayers are with Julie's family tonight.

To all of you, thank you for your prayers and visits. I know that sometimes it is difficult to understand what he is saying but I know he really enjoys the visits. His hours are sometimes very long and his long to do list weighs on him so visits are also a great distraction.

Thanks again to everyone.

November 17th 9:25 pm (ali)

Hi everybody! First off thanks Jen for the awesome pictures, mom really likes them "-) This is Ali, mom and I are just spending some time here in the room with dad. Jan and Bob came to visit dad yesterday, my mom was sick and so wasn't here for the visit, but when we asked dad about it he said "they're good people yeah very good." Dad is very aware of his visits and the people who come, it's something that really brightens him up! Sometimes he can't help but crack jokes and tease people, like for instance today when Jody, Kathy, and the twins came to visit. At one point dad joked that instead of more cards for his wall we should just hang the twins up there and they could sing him to sleep! After awhile they had to leave but we could tell dad had a great time. We're now trying to be quiet so dad can fall asleep, but he has been having great conversations with us about Thanksgiving and Christmas. One last thing; when we asked dad what he would like for Christmas he said a lot of money so he could get everyone nice gifts!
Well he wants us to turn off the lights so we have to go now.
Thanks to all those who visited, the ones we know about and the ones we don't. Please try to remember to leave a note in the book or on the door. :)

Nov 17 7:10 am (Jeny)

Saturday was an especially difficult day for Dad. The nurse said that he was very agitated at them and started hitting. They had to resort to some medication to calm him down. Steve and I went down to visit and when we got there he was asleep but when he woke up he was very pleasant and enjoyed talking to us. He was really interested in Abbie and kept wanting to hold her and play with her. There were a couple of times as I was holding her and talking to Dad and I guess I was out of reach for him so he would put his foot up to be able to touch her and play with her. It was really funny. I think it made him happy to see her. He played with Julie and talked to her. It was nice to see him.

Nov. 14 7:02 p.m.

Thanks Lynn for your comment. That's funny about the mom. :) I think that maybe we really are in stage 4 (confused and agitated). This is from the "Rancho Los Amigos" scale. It is used to evaluate the patent's cognitive and behavioral functioning after a brain injury. There are 8 levels. I'll see if we can find the scale on line and post it under the links.


He was very agitated with the tech today. I thought it might go to blows! I actually did step in and have the tech removed from the room for awhile. The charge nurse happened to be standing outside his room so when I came out to find someone I found the right someone.:)

I think maybe some of the staff might be just as anxious for me to go home as they are for Levi to go.

Well Levi is tired and wants us to go home now. He says "hi" to everyone.

Thanks to our visitors today, Lynn and Larry Allred, and Doug and Eva White! It's really good for him to have visits even though they need to be short. It stimulates old and new memories.

Levi is annoyed with the noise and lights right now so I need to sign off.

Thanks again for everything.

Nov. 13 10:30 p.m.

Good question Laura. The man that made the brace spoke on the phone to the PT and told him how to measure (more or less) and mark the brace. So he did it and I took it down to Provo where it was made. Russ (the man who made the brace) trimmed it up and back to the hospital I went. If you want something done.....

He seems much more comfortable. He was even agreeable in PT and ate a little better. This was sooo not the case yesterday! There was no way anyone was going to get him to do anything yesterday. I saw a whole new level of defiance. I had a flashback to the terrible twos.
We thought he had entered stage 4 but it might have been the withdrawal from Ritalin since he was so much better today. Stage 4 would last longer than two days and that is how long he has been off the Ritalin. They are going to restart it tomorrow as his cognition took a big drop.

The scary thing about those two days is that they are what it really will be like when he does enter stage 4 and that could likely be after he comes home! (Oh help) Either the stage has to come and go or the feeding tube has got to go before he comes home. Can you imagine him yelling and swearing at me all day and then I have to place my fingers on his throat to check his swallowing? The temptation might be too much! (jk of course)

Thank you "Marks" from Cookietree for your visit today. That was amazing! He had been pretty groggy all morning. He was very cognitive during the visit (comparatively), he did tell them to tell Harold that he should be back at work in a week. :) After the visit he met with speech and ate a little lunch then slept until 3:00 when PT came to get him again. That was when David and I had to leave.

I'll be going in later tomorrow and hopefully get a better report.

We have cleared up the "Blaine" fixation. He is calling David. He called out Blaine's name and again I told him that Blaine is in Green River. He got a little annoyed and said then who is that sitting over there? I told him that it was David and he said "yes, yes him!" Then he asked David to close the door.

Oh, one more note. Watch out, my girls are actually out there driving, getting in their practice hours!

So, areas of focus: cognition, eating, sore throat, and balance.

Thanks Cookietree for the goodies and thanks everyone for your prayers.

Nov. 11 11:09

Levi had a somewhat rough day. His throat sounds a little worse and he couldn't eat. He slept well last night but I think he is just exhausted. I'm taking his brace back to Provo tomorrow to have it adjusted. Maybe that will help some. They have a VERY TENTATIVE release date of possibly next weekend (22nd/23rd).

If you visit please remember to leave a note on the door. We have hearts and stars. There is now also a notebook you could leave a note in.

Have a good evening. :)

Nov. 10 7:20

Levi had another rough night last night. This a.m. they wouldn't let him eat anything because they were taking him down to remove the IVC filter. They only gave him something to relax him and then lidocaine(sp?) in his neck where they go in to pull it out. He did not have a general so I'm not sure why he couldn't have breakfast. The procedure was very difficult for him. Apparently it had already begun to "take root" so to speak. The removal was painful. When the speech therapist tried to give him lunch his throat was just too sore. He did have about three bites of the yogurt parfait Mark brought and one or two sips of the apple juice.

On a good note, Dale came to visit and I could tell Levi enjoyed it.

He keeps calling everyone, including me, Gordon. (Although he did call for me by the right name while he was having the filter removed)

No mention of Blaine or anyone else today but I had to leave at 2:30 so I didn't have the pleasure of his evening rambles tonight.

He was asleep when I left so if anyone visited tonight he was hopefully a little clearer.

David gets his stitches out in the morning and Emily needs to go to DMV in the afternoon and Hillary has a performance for the Veterans (the H.S. choirs sing). Another busy day.

Oh, he was asking me about my necklace. He said he saw a necklace floating around. He could be mixing up his words as usual but he was looking and pointing. The psychologist says he might be hallucinating. She is going to check all his meds and see if there is anything better they can be doing. (Do angels wear jewelry?)

Anyway I need to finish other things tonight so I'll update tomorrow. If anyone visited please comment on how that went.

Thanks!

Nov. 9 5:45

Thanks Mark for your visit and the game! And it was Jen and Lucy who visited the other night when Kathy did.

I also may have a little clarification on the "cow" situation. The nurses push a computer around on a cart and they call it a cow. Every time they bring it in they are giving him shots.

He is calling out Blaine's name again this evening. Also Gorden and Deborah. I know there are a couple of siblings following this blog. I've been trusting you to pass on info to those who don't have computers. I'm sure someone will visit soon. He has asked for Doreen and Ken also.

Visitors please sign a heart on the door when you come to visit. They will go in book for him.

Oh, the quick test for strep came back neg. so we tried warm moist air but he wouldn't keep the mask on. I tried hanging the tube from an IV holder for a while to just get the moisture in the air around him but he couldn't tolerate the noise it made. We aren't allowed to have a humidifier in the room so I guess we will get someone to give him a blessing and wait for it to pass. This is a vicious circle. The tube can't come out until he can eat enough calories on his own but his throat is too sore to eat because of his coughing and the tube.

That's it for tonight. Have a good evening.

Nov. 9 10;08

I came in this a.m. to take Levi to sacrament meeting but he was not very coherent. They said he had his worst night yet. He was very agitated even with meds.

He asked me what I'm doing and I told him I was typing on the blog and he said oh sh&&. I asked him what's wrong and he said that's ridiculous, make people worry about things they don't need to worry about.

I asked the nurse this a.m. to swab his throat to check for strep. He has been complaining for 3 days about the pain. They had told me it was probably the tube and the coughing. That may be but he has had the tube since the beginning and has not complained about throat pain.
Hopefully we'll find out the results soon.

The missionaries just brought sacrament in to us.

This is a tough day. The pain is making him very cranky, but that is pretty normal for him.

He just said ow, shoot! Yeah he didn't swear. :) I think if we can get him to sleep awhile he might feel a little better.

Jen, I'm sorry for the confusion. There is a lady at dad's work whose name is also Jen and she really did come to visit. I think we have several Jens and a few Kathys and others. I should use last initials.

That's about all for now. Maybe more later.

Nov. 7 2:49

Okee dokee. We are now in the swearing stage. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, the brace is not our friend.

Good news. The speech therapist has started giving him real food. He breezed right through what they call stage 1 and 2 foods and is on stage 3. Today for lunch he was offered clam chowder, chicken salad, applesauce, apple juice, and some veggies. He did not like any of it, I think mostly because he wanted the %$#% brace off. He has to sit up to eat so he must have the brace on to eat.

I asked about the VitalStim and she says he is still responding to other therapies so she will continue with those. The VitalStim is used when nothing else is working.

He is very tired today and a little more disoriented. He still asks about Blaine and Doreen. He named them as two of his children. There is apparently still a problem in Green River he feels he needs to take care of.

OK. Never mind. He just said he doesn't know of anything he needs to do there.

Thank you to our visitors today, Kathy, Jen, and (oh my gosh I forgot!) the one from whom Jen "borrows" pens, (reportedly without asking). I could tell, Jen, that you are in a bit of denial. That's OK I've been there! We are not alone!

Alright, really, thanks for the visits and the card was great!

It's been a busy night for the helicopters. The nurse said it always gets busy on the weekends.
With that in mind, please be careful and be safe. Make it a great weekend!

Nov. 6 7:40

Levi is worried about the farmers in Green River. He needs to make sure they have what they need. He keeps talking about Blaine.

He tried to get out of bed as always and I told him again that he can't. He asked why and I told him he has to have his brace on. He ask why he needed to wear a brace so I told him that the drs. fixed his back and he said "retards". (we are still laughing!) He said his brace was bothering the he** out of him. Today he told me the girl behind the desk (out in the hall) is dumb.

Jen asked him if he remembered what happened and he said (very seriously) ya, I was stupid, I was beat up by a cow. (I think it has taken me 5 mins. to write this sentence because I can't stop laughing!!!) So, cows in Green River, be afraid, be very afraid!

Ellasanka Dunk who are you? Levi says we need a picture of you to put on the web.

Jen and the grandchildren came to visit today. Levi remembered them. He needed a little help with their names but he knew their ages. He even teased Julie about being 25. She said, "no, I'm 5!" He said, "I'm only 20 years off". (so we know he can do math-he was also able to speak Spanish to the nurse) This is typical of his relationship with Julie and his sense of humor. And he held Abbie.

Thanks Bro. Cox for your visit. We'll see if we can keep him redirected to working on those ideas you left with him.

Our focus is still on cognition and the ability to swallow. That's where our prayers are.

Nov 5 2:07

Levi was very insistent that he would be going to So Cal today. Something about 6-8 clients and a milk delivery. He told Harold he would take care of it. He seemed worried about letting Harold down.

Today he has been talking a lot about going to Green River to get the stuff he wants and cleaning up. He keeps calling out Blaine's name. He said that he was just here. Perhaps we are in a new phase. He gets a hold of a thought and doesn't let go.

Thank you Chris for the info on the stereo. I'll try to follow up on that soon.

By the way, I'm also not yet telling Levi that Obama won.

Levi is brushing his own teeth at the sink with water. He is now using the walker instead of the wheelchair to get to the bathroom. So more progress. :)

Nov. 4 6:15

Wow Jen your fast! I would like to mention if anyone visits Levi please don't talk about his stereo being stolen. I'm not going to tell him until he is well.

He is becoming more agitated and he keeps trying to get out of bed. He got up and tried walking to the bathroom by himself.
they have him back on "one on one". They don't like restraints so someone sits with him whenever the family is not here.

Levi told me as soon as I walked in that he needed to go to Southern California in the morning to check the plant there. I asked if he was talking about Rich Products, He said no like I was crazy so I asked if he meant Cookietree and he said yes then no the plant that makes cookies there.
He said it was so "stinking busy" at work today.

Now he is soundly sleeping. I'm going to go see if it is my turn for the washing machine.

Nov 4, 2008

Hi everyone,
I am posting this for my mom. Unfortunately my dad's car was broken into last night at the hospital, in the parking lot right in the front row. Supposedly someone called the security office at the hospital to report someone lurking around the parking lot but when the security officers came out, they didn't see anyone. Anyway, we are in need of some help, hopefully someone from dad's work can help. The drivers side door lock and the passenger side window were broken. The radio was the only thing stolen, I guess, and we need to know who he bought it from so we can get some info on it for the insurance company. Mom says that dad bought the radio from someone at work. If anyone knows who, please let us know. Thanks for any help you can give.

Nov. 3 6:20

Thank you to our visitors tonight. Pres. Tomer and Craig, Paul, Harold, & Mark from Cookietree. We also have had Lynn and Diane Russell, Ellis and Olga Worthen, have I messed up the names again? Are there two Marks at Cookietree? I'm so sorry. Just straighten me out in the comments OK?

Levi is starting to get really restless. He seems to have a lot of worries on his mind. I guess we borrowed a jeep he wants to return. Also, some food we need to pick up. So many things I can't remember. He is anxious to help at work but they keep him pretty busy here. He'll do what he can.

While he sorts all that out I'm trying to get some sort of routine going back at home. I hope we are pretty much done with children's appts. I have an SEP in the a.m. with David's on-line teacher. We are still waiting to hear from The Moran Eye Center for Emily's contacts, and David's stitches come out on the 11th. ta-da!

By the way, when you visit Levi you might hear a helicopter. If you do, go look out his window and you might get to see one of them take off or land. It's pretty cool, if you don't think too much about the human factor. Also, he has a great view!

About visiting, while we are trying to work out the calendar thing please feel free to come visit between the hours of 4 and 8 p.m. You might show up at the same time as someone else in which case you can "rock, paper, scissors". The one who has to wait can do so comfortably in the "den" next door to Levi's room. The kitchen is for the use of the patients.
A couple of people at a time is o.k. More than that at a time is too confusing for head trauma patients and sometimes noises seem louder than they are. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Levi is resting really well right now and it is about time for us to leave. It's amazing how long it takes to get a post done. From 6:20 to 7:50. My typing is painfully slow but there are many things going on also! We got here at 4:10, maybe I should have started it then.

Again thanks for your visits, your kindnesses, and especially your prayers!

P.S. Bro. Cox, IMED is listed as a provider of VitalStim so I'll ask the speech theapist about it. Thanks. :)

Nov. 2 1:40

Emily and I just got here about an hour ago. The nurse said he wanted to get dressed right away this a.m. She told him that OT usually does that with him to help him learn how. He said, "I know how. Can we just do it?" Last night he kept asking me the time and seemed a little frustrated. He said it's Saturday isn't it? I told him yes and he said, "oh Gaul." I asked him what he was so worried about and he said, "I need to get a shower so I can go to church tomorrow.

The Elders came this a.m. to administer sacrament. They usually just touch it to the lips if the person has a feeding tube as Levi does. Those patients are not supposed to eat anything. Levi grabbed the little tiny piece and ate it! The poor Elders were very worried. I think next week we will take him to the service they hold here. Maybe he will have his tube out by then.

He is worried about extra trees for Jen's and Steve's yard.

Has to get up earlier to do the trailers.

Darren is going to turn the knob... (who's Darren?) I don't know...

Get Evelynn involved in this....(Evelynn Foy our neighbor?) yes. So they can pick them up...(pick up who?) anyone they want, brothers, siblings, whatever...

They gave him his Ritalin a few minutes ago. Just before all this conversation. Now he is having a conversation with himself.

I'm going to ask the dr. to take him off the Ritalin for a couple of days. I just want to be sure we are doing the right thing. He had a great deal of clarity when we got here.

He just tried to get out of bed to go tell the kids out there to aerate every night.

The nurse came in with some Chapstick and he asked' "how much do I owe you for all this?"

He is talking about Doug the wrestler guy who is younger than him. Then he said something about Jody so I asked him if he meant Doug Worthen and he said yes.

And you youth out there that are "scarfing", you need to be quiet the rest of the day.

The conversation goes on and on. I think I need a tape recorder!

More later.

Nov. 1 12:58 p.m.

I have been so very busy! I'm sorry I haven't posted. I'm hoping things will settle down into some better routine this coming week. Maybe around Wednesday. We are waiting for Emily's contacts from the Moran Eye Center. We had hoped they would come in yesterday. So now maybe Monday or Tuesday. They have to train her to use them and that will take about an hour. She has to have hard contacts to treat the keratoconus. She says they are very uncomfortable but she'll get used to them.

Thank you so much to those who have visited. I'm sad that I missed all of you.

We have a little miscommunication. Not surprising since I can't seem to keep my thoughts straight lately! Levi did ask about Deborah and Ted. But the prayers were a different time. We were just visiting and he began to say a prayer. He had done this once before. He did a lot of mumbling then said "in the name, mumble, amen" The next time he started it pretty clearly and was thankful for all the children to help move the cars. Then a lot of mumbling. The last time, which was just a few minutes after the second time, he asked Emily if she would join us in prayer. He started and fell asleep. We wondered if maybe he was in a meeting! lol So Ted and Deborah I hope we didn't scare you. Sorry.

I was with David yesterday as Jen mentioned. He had surgery about 10:00 a.m. We had to be there at 8:30 and we left about 12:45. When we got home Alison was there helping the children put on costumes and makeup. They looked great! The house was a mess! We got it picked up this a.m. and I left them with a few more things to do so I could come back to the hospital.

They told me that Levi walked with the walker 3 times around the halls this morning! Now he is pretty tired. The speech therapist is with him now. At 2:30 the OT comes in then he will be finished for the day.

Levi just called out Doreen's name and was wondering if they threw eggs in the oven. He is right with us one minute and somewhere else the next. But he is becoming a little bit clearer each day.

The speech therapist just left so he gets to rest for about 25 minutes then the occupational therapist will be here.

If those of you who have expressed a desire to read to Levi could e-mail me or Jen to let us know which days are good for you we would like to get that going. The best time is between 4 and 8 p.m. any day. My e-mail is kellynlevi@yahoo.com and Jen is onenjen@yahoo.com. Some ideas are anything related to airplanes, science, nature, current events (maybe read him the newspaper) and anything you may have had discussions about together. Also, If you could let us know if you visited when we were not here. He unfortunately does not yet remember too well so I would like to keep a guest list for him. That way we can ask him questions to help him with short term memory. It will also be nice for him to see later. I'll try to remember to put one in the room so you can just sign when you come.

Well, the OT is about to come in so I'm going to close this now. I'll try to post again later, if not, tomorrow.

O.k. it is now 3:10 and just noticed the red cooler bag! Thank you!
Now I'm going to close this post No just kidding. I need to know from Craig or Chris or someone if you know the dr. he saw about his arm awhile back. He didn't go to our regular dr. he had to go somewhere else. It might be helpful to know about that injury as part of his history and as something ongoing. It might be part of the problem with his right arm as they can't find any break. Thanks so much!

Now I really am closing. :)