Post by Kristen Gamauf on Oct 12, 2005 12:49:03 GMT -5
DAY 9 AT EDWIN SHAW
Thought I'd remind you all that I have cooking class tonight and won't be able to post till later. Not like it matters, cause I have been posting later and later it seems. I just know "the Aunts (which includes my Grandma)" get worried. Tonight we are doing meats, so the way I figure, if I ever go on David Letterman and he does that "Know Your Cuts of Meat" segment, then I will win without any ounce of help from show staff. We don't get to eat steak or anything tonight--"too expensive."
No matter, tomorrow night I am going out for the bi-weekly dinner with the girls, in which case I am going to order a giant steak.
Tomorrow morning, Mom, Dad, and I get to go watch Mike's morning therapy. Next Tuesday, Aunt Sharon and I are scheduled to go watch. Mike also has an appointment to go to the orthopedic doctor that day too for his knee.
And also, the doctor told my parents the other day that he expects Mike to be an inpatient for AT LEAST 6 weeks from the day of his admittance at Edwin Shaw. That would put a reasonable homecoming date say beginning of December (what a nice birthday gift for Mike that would be). We'll have to wait and see.
Well, I gotta go eat something before class. The only thing that gets me through it is knowing I can come home and watch LOST and Invasion afterwards.
*********************************************
EVENING UPDATE:
Michael got his trache taken out today!!
He seems to be doing well. Mom & Dad say he is able to whisper more, and occasionally it comes out in his normal voice. He is very chatty, but sometimes it is garbled.
He knows that we are coming at 9am tomorrow to see his therapy. The doctors will do a swallowing test then, and we will watch the X-ray on a screen. As he swallows, the doctors can watch how he does to determine whether or not he can have solid foods and such.
With the trache out, Mike was more relaxed, however he still wishes he could go home. He was all about "drinking" water with his mouth swab tonight. He would try and trick you into giving him the cup, or he would leave as much water as possible on the swab and roll it as it went toward his mouth so the droplets wouldn't drop off.
The speech therapist was working with word associations with Mike. For example, fill in the blanks with three choices. Or, here's three objects, which one doesn't belong. He has to work hard to get his brain doing that sort of thing again, as the injury affects language skills like this. I was thinking, if his friends or family are bored, you could cut pictures out of magazines Mike would be interested in and put them on notecards. As he gets better, I am sure he will get bored with the standard issue games and flashcards they play with him, so I was thinking this might be a way for us to make it more interesting down the road.
Oh, the other night, Mike really seemed to like looking at the TV guide in the newspaper, which seemed to stimulate some more complex thinking, so Grandma, bring in your TV guide if you have it.
When Mike is not tired, he does like looking at pictures or magazines and things. So any ideas you guys have, if you want to pass them along to Grandma or anyone, we'll bring them in to him. Like I said, I think he's sick of the same-old-same-old.
Anyways, that was just a brainstorm I had. In our cooking class, we actually did get to eat. If I told you all what we made you would be jealous. Beef & veal, we'll stick with that. And some pastry deserts. I about turned white while he was fileting the things and blood was all over, but I have no problem eating the stuff haha. Awe, baby cow, mmm. Well, I will let you go. I hope to have more good news tomorrow!! I know Mike would REALLY REALLY LOVE to have some steak, or for that matter, WATER! Kristy always told him back in the SICU at Akron General that his bag of white IV lipids could be steak or anything he wanted it to be! Well, tomorrow he may be able to eat some pudding or something, which is a step in the right direction for sure!
P.S. Mike enjoyed opening his cards! Keep them coming, and feel free to include weird photos or objects or whatever in them. He gets really bored. By weird, I recall Uncle Gary's card the other night with the funny picture of a fat rapper in it.
Thought I'd remind you all that I have cooking class tonight and won't be able to post till later. Not like it matters, cause I have been posting later and later it seems. I just know "the Aunts (which includes my Grandma)" get worried. Tonight we are doing meats, so the way I figure, if I ever go on David Letterman and he does that "Know Your Cuts of Meat" segment, then I will win without any ounce of help from show staff. We don't get to eat steak or anything tonight--"too expensive."
No matter, tomorrow night I am going out for the bi-weekly dinner with the girls, in which case I am going to order a giant steak.
Tomorrow morning, Mom, Dad, and I get to go watch Mike's morning therapy. Next Tuesday, Aunt Sharon and I are scheduled to go watch. Mike also has an appointment to go to the orthopedic doctor that day too for his knee.
And also, the doctor told my parents the other day that he expects Mike to be an inpatient for AT LEAST 6 weeks from the day of his admittance at Edwin Shaw. That would put a reasonable homecoming date say beginning of December (what a nice birthday gift for Mike that would be). We'll have to wait and see.
Well, I gotta go eat something before class. The only thing that gets me through it is knowing I can come home and watch LOST and Invasion afterwards.
*********************************************
EVENING UPDATE:
Michael got his trache taken out today!!
He seems to be doing well. Mom & Dad say he is able to whisper more, and occasionally it comes out in his normal voice. He is very chatty, but sometimes it is garbled.
He knows that we are coming at 9am tomorrow to see his therapy. The doctors will do a swallowing test then, and we will watch the X-ray on a screen. As he swallows, the doctors can watch how he does to determine whether or not he can have solid foods and such.
With the trache out, Mike was more relaxed, however he still wishes he could go home. He was all about "drinking" water with his mouth swab tonight. He would try and trick you into giving him the cup, or he would leave as much water as possible on the swab and roll it as it went toward his mouth so the droplets wouldn't drop off.
The speech therapist was working with word associations with Mike. For example, fill in the blanks with three choices. Or, here's three objects, which one doesn't belong. He has to work hard to get his brain doing that sort of thing again, as the injury affects language skills like this. I was thinking, if his friends or family are bored, you could cut pictures out of magazines Mike would be interested in and put them on notecards. As he gets better, I am sure he will get bored with the standard issue games and flashcards they play with him, so I was thinking this might be a way for us to make it more interesting down the road.
Oh, the other night, Mike really seemed to like looking at the TV guide in the newspaper, which seemed to stimulate some more complex thinking, so Grandma, bring in your TV guide if you have it.
When Mike is not tired, he does like looking at pictures or magazines and things. So any ideas you guys have, if you want to pass them along to Grandma or anyone, we'll bring them in to him. Like I said, I think he's sick of the same-old-same-old.
Anyways, that was just a brainstorm I had. In our cooking class, we actually did get to eat. If I told you all what we made you would be jealous. Beef & veal, we'll stick with that. And some pastry deserts. I about turned white while he was fileting the things and blood was all over, but I have no problem eating the stuff haha. Awe, baby cow, mmm. Well, I will let you go. I hope to have more good news tomorrow!! I know Mike would REALLY REALLY LOVE to have some steak, or for that matter, WATER! Kristy always told him back in the SICU at Akron General that his bag of white IV lipids could be steak or anything he wanted it to be! Well, tomorrow he may be able to eat some pudding or something, which is a step in the right direction for sure!
P.S. Mike enjoyed opening his cards! Keep them coming, and feel free to include weird photos or objects or whatever in them. He gets really bored. By weird, I recall Uncle Gary's card the other night with the funny picture of a fat rapper in it.