Day 135 – Grayson’s Journey

Our dear family and friends,

Grayson had just snuggled into bed when I called this evening.

He didn't remember what he had done during the day but said his day was "good" and asked about mine. (Sure glad we taught him good manners when he was younger).

He described his dinner as hamburger, fries, and Mr. Pibb, all eaten "somewhere else". In actuality, he had meatloaf, vegetables and juice which he prepared at home. Ah, the challenges of the recovering brain. He had a tough time getting the name "Mr. Pibb" out but easily sang it to me on request.

He described the weather as cold with no rain (it was in the 50's when he returned from his walk this evening).

Grayson has been an avid reader since he was quite small. In the early stages of his injury/recovery we had no idea whether he was four or 24 mentally. I brought books such as Good Night Moon to see if he could follow along with my reading aloud. You can imagine how excited I was when he could. He would try to turn the page when I finished each one. As the weeks and months have gone by, we progressed up to Harry Potter and selected National Geographic magazines. I know he's not reading them thoroughly but exposure, availability and desire is surely the first step. The staff said he seems to be reading them or at least looking at them (still not sure why they don't ask him questions about what he's reading).

When I asked if he remembered discussing an invasion of Canada with Brant yesterday he said "no" but told me he had started to read The Federalist Papers which I left for him a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure if he really has or not but we will discuss it again tomorrow night. I pray that his love of reading can be stirred again. Think of all the wonderful benefits.

The RA that worked with him tonight was very encouraging. After helping Grayson make dinner, he encouraged him to complete his THPs (therapeutic home program) by promising the reward of seeing "Sherlock Holmes" in the recreation room. The TV went off and Grayson was able to focus and complete them quite well. The movie was a great motivation. The RA also was astute enough to break up the homework into separate sessions. He determined that Grayson loves to be outdoors and so they went to sit by the pool area and work undisturbed by roommates, TV, or other distractions.

In addition to various memory and orientation worksheets, they keep introducing new concepts to challenge his mental processing. Here is a sample of one type of exercise from tonight. Visualize a circle and a square. Draw a picture of the circle. Draw a picture of the square to the right of the circle. Shade in the circle. And so on. He did quite well.

As I was thanking this staff person whom we've not yet met, he said something that made my heart sing. He indicated that he really is enjoying working with Grayson. "Grayson is a cool guy. Like the kind of person that would be my friend."

We all touch each other.

Chag Sameach to my Jewish friends. Grace and peace to you all.

Regina