Dear family and friends
It's Grayson's birthday! We drove to Bakersfield to visit him and had the opportunity to spend a wonderful day together. Today we took a field trip – the first one to a place familiar to Grayson since his incident in November. We visited the Boy Scout Camp where Grayson spent so much time while growing up – Camp Verdugo Oaks. While there, we got to observe the 2010 National Scout Jamboree Troop from our local council. They were doing their "shakedown" outing – an overnight trip to practice the setup of their camp, and going over the last minute details before their adventure. Grayson was part of the 2001 National Scout Jamboree contingent, and he did this same outing 9 years ago. Here is a picture of us in front of the gateway to their camp. As you can tell, their theme was the rich aerospace history of our area.
The camp is also the place where Grayson spent Cub Scout summer camps in the mid-1990's, and where he performed as a member of the Order of the Arrow ceremonies team for many years. (The Order of the Arrow is Scouting's National Honor Society.) Here is a picture of the ceremonies team from the spring of 2002 that includes both Grayson and Austin. This is a place rich in history and good memories for Grayson.
Grayson was a joy to be with today. He spoke little, and when he did it was in one or two word chunks. He had no problem behavior today.
A quarter of a century ago, Regina celebrated her first day as a mother. Since that day we have had numerous joys with Grayson and our other two children. Life continues to offer us much to be thankful for.
Pax!
Brant
Dear Brant and Regina,
ReplyDeleteWilly and I have been keeping track of Grayson's progress through Sue Siebles.
Willy's daughter, Kathy had a brain aneurism over 5 years ago. It left her with short term memory loss. She was a single mother of 4 young children. Kathie came to live with us in 2007 after a long battle with her mother and sister who were keeping Kathie from her friends and family (even her children). Kathie's children went to live with their dad after her aneurysm.
When Kathie first arrived at our home, she was very combative and actually hit and kicked her dad (he was 78 at the time). It got so bad one night we had to call the police and ambulance. They took her to the hospital where they gave her a brain scan and other tests. She was released the same night and later did not remember what had taken place. After finding a great neuro Doctor and weening(?) her off all her drugs and puting her on one or two new drugs, I am pleased to say that she is the most loving and pleasant person to be around. She still has some memory loss , but she has been faithfull in writing everything down in a book that she carries with her. She is now engaged to a wonderful man. Kathie moved in with her boyfriend a year ago and has become a very responsible person. Kathie's recovery has been very slow, but she puts her trust in God. Giong through this trying time with my husband, has mad me cherich the time that God has given me.
Through all this we have found that the brain can recover and make new paths for our memory.
It just takes time.
It has been a journey but well worth beeing a part of Kathies recovery.
Gods Blessings, Becky Wennberg