Day 456 – Grayson’s Journey

2/12/11

Dear family and friends,

Some days just don't feel like progress. It is frustrating and a little frightening when there is a long string of days where Grayson seems to have gone several steps backward.

He has been fairly non-verbal for several days now and is frequently stuck executing the simplest of tasks again. His eyes are blood shot and lack the clarity of alert mental tracking. Makes me wish I could tell what goes on inside his body and mind to cause such disparate responses and abilities.

It is an endless series of lessons in trust, patience, and perseverance for Grayson and for us.

Some days I do better than others in meeting the challenges. All days I am grateful for the opportunity to love him.

Happy day of love to each of you.

Grace and peace,

Regina

Day 455 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was alert but quiet all day. Today we had a busy day of catching up on chores on my weekend between trips. Grayson was a champ helping, but was mostly non-verbal.

After we returned home this afternoon, Grayson and I took a walk together to get his blood pumping a bit harder, but it is a challenge to keep him moving faster than a stroll. Still the exercise is good for him.

We continue to make progress even if it is at a very slow rate!

Pax!

Brant

Day 454 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

After a day running errands and doing chores with Grayson, we had the gift of an early Valentine date tonight. Austin and Xixi volunteered to come by and watch Grayson to give us a night out together – something we don't do very often these days! We watched The King's Speech and it was an engaging movie that we thoroughly enjoyed. Afterward we went out to dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants for a scrumptious dinner. It was a wonderful night – Thank you Austin and Xixi!

Pax!

Brant

Day 453 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

I'm back home after a week in Houston TX and Huntsville AL. Those normally temperate cities were mighty cold this week, and we got enough snow to really mess things up in Huntsville Thursday!

I picked Grayson up from the clinic this afternoon and he was happy to see me. Tonight Lauren and a friend joined us for dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, New Moon. It is hard for Grayson to be patient while sitting and waiting for food, but tonight he did fairly well. We sat in a booth and put Grayson between Regina and me and that kept him from jumping up. He also was pretty occupied people watching, so he had a few things other than "Where is my food" to focus on!

It is good to be home where tomorrow it will be sunny and 76°!

Pax!

Brant

Day 452 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,


Grayson was fairly low energy again today and his words were very hard to understand. I was happy just to have him successfully walk through his daily living tasks.

At the clinic this week, one of the staff stopped to talk to us and to comment on just how much Grayson had improved since he saw him last. It was one of the staff who worked with Grayson last year in Bakersfield. From the perspective of not having seen Grayson for many months, this staff member was impressed by what he saw as a dramatic improvement.

Sometimes it really is hard to see the forest when you are so close to the trees.

Grace and peace – and good night,

Regina

Day 451 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Brain injuries are very curious. By that I mean each morning we wait to see what we have to work with that day. As I mentioned over the last week, some days Grayson seems to have more connections being made than others. On those days he can speak more clearly, follow more complex instructions, and appears to be calmer. These are the days when we can expect more of him and give fewer cues to complete a task. His eyes are bright and it is easy to see that he is tracking right along with me.

Other days, when the fog seems to be clouding his mind, he requires many more direct cues and in some instances actual hands-on assistance. His eyes reflect a lack of brightness and he seems more confused.

Today he was foggy in the morning, slightly more alert by noon, and quite restless by this evening. He was impatient for dinner and yet couldn't stay seated long enough to finish it. He kept standing up like he just couldn't handle sitting still. He scratched his head repeatedly and seemed to have a lot of neurological "noise" going on inside. He could barely concentrate long enough to even do a cursory brushing of his teeth (he takes his turn and then I re-brush them).

Every day is different. It is much like a sensitive dance. Minute by minute we must ascertain where he is and meet him right there. Drawing him forward, challenging him, without enabling him to become completely dependent on our help. The tricky part is that the starting point keeps moving.

The challenges are similar to those we faced raising young children but the progression was much more linear then.

Never a dull day – that's for sure. I wonder what tomorrow will be like.

Grace and peace,

Regina

Day 450 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

After nearly a week of increased alertness and verbalizing, Grayson awoke in a slow motion fog. Movements were back to being slow and uncertain. His verbal responses were either "yeah" or some other simple one word answer and he seemed stuck trying to execute the sequence of simple tasks.

It would be easy to get disappointed but as Brant's cousin Doug said, "We'll be patient and prayerful, because God isn't finished with Grayson [or the rest of us] yet!"

Tomorrow we will rise again.

Grace and peace,

Regina