Day 202 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

As we drove the 107 miles each way to see Grayson today, I was struck again with the marked contrast in the scenery from what it was when we started our weekly sojourn in January. In January there was snow in the pass and on the mountain peaks. As the snow melted the spectacular flower fields came into bloom – bright purples, yellows and oranges set off against vivid green grasses. Now the grasses have dried to golden and the hills are nearly devoid of flowers save the yellow weeds and cactus blossoms. The temperature has moved from the 30s and 40s to the mid 90s.

We also see a marked contrast in Grayson from January. He is brighter, less tired (though still moving somewhat in slow motion) and his hand tremors are greatly reduced. He is physically stronger, and able to make more decisions for himself with prompting. His speech is still unclear though understandable when he is encouraged to slow his pace. He chooses very short answers likely because of the frustration of his words tumbling out on top of each other and knowing he is difficult to understand. It must be hard to be asked to repeat yourself so frequently.

His cognitive abilities also seem to be improving. Tonight he completed several sections of exercises with his RA accurately answering questions about what was read to him and finding commonality in sets of words. He even remembered his address again.

Our day with Grayson was filled with many simple and delightful moments. For example, for lunch today we took him to a brand new Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Bakersfield. This particular location has only been open a week and yet it felt as familiar as if we were in Burbank. As a side note, the statue in front of this new location was stolen during this first week and has already been returned and reinstalled.

After lunch we ran errands to Costco, filled the car with gas, and hunted for pottery for my brother and his wife. Because we move slowly with Grayson, these simple errands, that you or I could finish in short order, can stretch out many hours. The outdoor walk through the pottery yard in the hot afternoon sun soon had us looking forward to taking a dip in the pool back at his residence. Grayson was quite eager to change into his bathing suit though he "got stuck" for a short time while changing clothes. When we sprayed sunscreen on him he cringed much less than last week and got into the pool more quickly. He was able to pull himself out of the side of the pool again but with much less effort than the week before.

While we sat by the pool in the shade we encouraged him to drink water and handed him a half liter bottle. He took a couple of sips and put the bottle down. I challenged him to drink more than a couple of sips and asked him to drink down to the top of the label. He looked keenly at the label and started drinking. He stopped, checked the label again and drank some more – repeating until he reached precisely the top of the label. He put the bottle down and grinned at me. How very engineer-like. I was delighted that he took the challenge, set a goal, and completed it.

These mundane things may all seem small accomplishments but as we have said before, this is a journey of inches. Progress is progress and worthy of celebration.

Today I read to him from an amusing book entitled, Anguished English, An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language by Richard Lederer. To hear Grayson sit there and laugh his way through this crazy collection of language bloopers, two-headed headlines and mixed-up metaphors – I couldn't help but be thankful that the injury to his brain has left his sense of humor in pretty good shape.

Brant and I thank God for the opportunity to share these days with Grayson as well as for the opportunity to share the journey with each of you.

Grace and peace,

Regina