Day 153 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

We went to the residence to see Grayson as soon as he was done putting his groceries away from the weekly shopping run. We had a nice uneventful day. We started with a pleasant outdoor lunch, as it was in the high 70's here in Bakersfield. We are trying to enjoy the wonderful spring weather, because in about two weeks it will be scorching!

Because the restaurant was next to Sports Chalet, I stopped in to get a new pair of swim trunks. Now I probably wouldn't share that normally, except that I had Grayson in stitches demonstrating various swim suit articles that are SO not me. We had some fun together while Regina was at CVS next door. After we finished at Sports Chalet and joined Regina at CVS, I picked up a few necessities and Grayson helped himself to some candy – and opened the wrapper and ate it. I retrieved the wrapper and paid for the candy, but this is yet another indicator of impulse with no concept of consequence.

Next stop for the day was a nickel arcade. Now I must admit, the games only took nickels, but some took 10 or 12, so it was a bit misleading. However it was fun, and an easy way to get Grayson to focus for a bit on making choices, hand to eye coordination and reaction time. Every bit of practice helps!

I was quite pleased at the significant reduction in his hand tremors – shaking – that have been plaguing him since the incident. They are still there, but so reduced over what they were even a month ago that I am thrilled. This will lead to an ability to use a pen or pencil again, something that has been quite impossible so far.

I have known that Grayson remembered much from his education. Today I decided to casually do some basic arithmetic tests, and I am pleased to tell you that he can do calculations in his head quickly, including the addition of fractions. Next week, I'll attempt to do some basic algebra with him. It better be basic, because my last math class (calculus) was 34 years ago!

Grayson is still very difficult to understand. Any combination of words over five is tough to understand, and will always require a request to repeat and slow down. Another curious observation is harder to describe – we call it getting "stuck". When we arrived today, Grayson was sitting in the easy chair. When we asked him if he wanted to go to lunch, he smilled and nodded "Yes", but didn't move. It was like he lost the ability to command his body. We eventually got him up, and went on with our day. Later while he was preparing a fruit shake (strawberries, bananas and milk in the blender) he needed milk. His residential assistant (RA) asked him what was missing, and Grayson said, "Milk". When the RA asked him where he should get it, Grayson pointed to the refrigerator. When the RA asked him to get it, Grayson reached from across the room with his hand, and very slowly his body started to move toward the refrigerator. Once he became "un-stuck" and moving toward the refrigerator, he was fine. He knows what he wants, but is sometimes unable to take the first step towards execution – very strange phenomenon that we observed several other times during the day.

Tonight Grayson wanted to go to the movies with others from the residence, so we bid adieu while he was preparing his dinner. I suspect he will have a good time, as both movie choices were comedies. We'll see him again when we pick him up for church in the morning.

Pax!

Brant