Update: 4:00am on 3/1

Forrest has had a busy 24 hours.  It started yesterday with a visit from his Godfather, David O’Connor.  David’s comment was he was flabbergasted by his progress.  Forrest can do so many things he could not do just days ago it is amazing.  He joked quietly with David and had some laughs and smiles, some big, some smaller and quieter like he is sharing a private joke.  David shared with us how impressed he was with Forrest’s progress and promised to come back in a few weeks.

He had a running game of Nerf basketball with Dad Sunday afternoon with him in his wheelchair and Dad running around trying to keep up with Forrest’s throws and movement.  That provoked a lot of smiles and laughs on both sides.  The real Wheelchair athletes had just finished their practice and we stayed out of their way slightly in awe of their efforts.

This morning it was up and at for breakfast and he ate the best I had seen him.  Then a cough turned into a gag and it came back up.  He managed the whole process well but was embarrassed that it had happened.  His brain, throat, stomach are all trying to figure out this new system and some failures are expected to offset his notable progress.  The whole nutritional aspect has just changed in the last few days since his stomach tube has been pulled and he must get all of his nutrition and medications orally the same way the rest of us do.  So there is a bit more of a push to get food in him but as I learned it can be overdone and he is still figuring out when to say enough. 

He did much better at lunch and dinner and had a busy schedule on various therapies.  The most impressive was me getting ok to walk with him but he really needs very little balance help anymore and he walked down 4 flights of stairs today with his Physical Therapist.  He is still working on the cognitive part and it is coming together slowly with him remembering some from the previous days and then forgetting things he had worked on earlier in the day.  The brain is learning how to rewire itself and that involves how to lay down memories and make them stay.  It is hard and sometimes frustrating work for him and sometimes it is a lot to do.  He told me in a quiet moment that sometimes it is easier to live in his dreams that the real world is hard.  He hurts and yet hardly ever complains and always wants to reassure whomever is working with him that he appreciates their help and has a smile and a handshake for them.  Austin and Rae are reading Mind Storms a book by Ed Cassidy that I am about to download to my iPad . It goes thru the process that he and many of the other unsung heroes of traumatic brain injury are struggling with here at Shepherd.  Check the blog from yesterday if you want to learn more about Shepherd Center.

He got to give a birthday gift to Dr. Kaelin his head Doctor that was a wooden plaque with a saying from John Wayne. “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway”.  That is the way it is sometimes  here but Forrest’s jumps into to it anyway and enjoyed giving a gift to one of his favorite Doctors.
Other big news is that Forrest got to look at 3-D CT pictures of the prosthetic cranium that will cover the area of his Cranioectomy.  Dr. Simon the plastic surgeon who will do the procedure came by and discussed it with Mom, Dad and Forrest.  He showed us what it will look like and how he will put it on.  It was very cool.  I talked to Forrest about it later and told him I thought it was way cooler than the used sports car I had gotten last year which he is so fond of.  So his response was, “So, do want to trade”?  I told him I didn’t think his Mom would let us do that.  

His Aunt Lobie arrived today and has started giving Rae and Austin a hand already.  She took a great picture of our Green Team Forrest Shirts which we modeled.  You may remember the pink ones from earlier.  Both show our Team 44 spirit!  I had to head back to work tonite and of course my flight got cancelled and I am now rerouting thru National airport so I can be at work and helping my wonderful crew at VEI who is holding down the fort while I shuttle back and forth to Atlanta.  So I send this from my cab to Dulles in the middle of the night to my wonderful niece Lisa who started the blog and has agreed to post it so it will be up for the people who read it over their Wheaties in the morning.  Austin will add the pictures later, so you’ll have to check back for that.

It is very hard to leave 44 and I miss him and Team Forrest terribly already.  He and I talked about it and said it was ok as long as I come back soon!  Count on it little buddy.
Dad

Quote of the day: ”Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”.  Neale David Walsch