March 2007
25 posts
1 tag
2/28/07 - 7:27 PM PST
John meet with the neurologist today. He is very hopeful about his recovery. He told us the name of a neurologist in the Seattle area for us to keep in touch with. This hopefully will lead us to more people and a rehab center for his recovery. We also had a long day for preoperative admission. So we didn’t have any therapy today. We will hit it early tomorrow to make up for lost time. Many...
February 2007
30 posts
1 tag
2/27/07 - 8:09 PM PST
This AM was a little hectic for John. The night nurse did not wake up John in time for his 8:00 AM therapy sessions at Spalding, so they were all running around frantically getting John ready. Well he made it, but he was 15 minutes late. He had three therapy sessions today at Spalding. When he got back, he finally wore out his “ear buds” on his iPod. And yes, he still listens to...
1 tag
2/26/07 - 8:30 PM PST
John was very tired today, probably due to his mile long walk yesterday. He did wake at 8:00 AM but was tired and did not feel like doing speech therapy with Sally. So Sally read to him in the AM. He had no formal therapy at Spalding today. After lunch he took a 2.5 hour nap. After that, the MIT Psychologist stopped by and they discussed John’s upcoming surgery. He is still a little anxious...
1 tag
2/25/07 - 9:52 PM PST
Today John walked over a mile. He went over to his fraternity which is over a half mile away from the MIT Infirmary. John walked over and saw some of his brothers and then he and Sally returned before it got dark. Earlier in the day Sally read some of John’s emails while he looked on. He is down to 850 emails. She also read from the book Aragon. As part of John’s therapy she asked reading...
1 tag
2/24/07 - 7:54 PM PST
Today John and Sally tackled John’s emails. He now has over 1,000. While Sally reads them to John slowly, John will follow along. This allows him to process and recognize some words as she goes along. They went through about 150 before John’s eyes got tired. John explains what it feels like when his eyes get tired this way: think of looking through binoculars when the lenses are...
1 tag
2/23/07 - 9:08 PM PST
John had physical therapy and speech therapy today, a pretty routine day. He had a visitor from the fraternity, Patrick around dinner time. Later on Dr. Rhinehart discussed John’s upcoming surgery next week. John got nervous of course thinking about the surgery as anyone in his position would. Dr. Rhinehart tried to alleviate his anxiety by staying late into the night with John. John is also...
1 tag
2/22/07 - 8:11 PM PST
John visited his Neurosurgeon today, Dr.Amirnovin. This was the doctor that saved John’s life on 12/14/06. The purpose of the visit today was to determine if the swelling of the brain had come down enough to re-attach the skull cap. The doctor said “yes”, so on Saturday 3/3/07 at 8:00 AM, John will go back into surgery at Mass General Hospital. But this time, under much easier...
1 tag
2/21/07 - 7:58 PM PST
John had a later start today. He didn’t have any therapy until 1:00 PM. This is more in keeping to his schedule last semester. He only had PT and Speech today. He is working on his balance and also working on his sentence structure. He is going in tomorrow for his appointment with the neurosurgeon who will determine if he is ready to have the bone flap returned. He also got a visit from Fr....
1 tag
2/20/07 - 7:03 PM PST
John had a early start today. He was slow to start since he isn’t used to getting up so early. We did give him a treat with a pastrami for lunch since he had such a good therapy. He also did some OT which is learning to compensate for his right side field cut. He is getting the hang of this slowly but surely. We came back to the infirmary to get some rest. He was visited by a friend Grace...
1 tag
2/19/07 - 6:45 PM PST
John had a quiet day today. He, mom and our friend Ronda took a walk to Killian Court from the MIT infirmary. It was cold but we are able to walk in the hallways to avoid the cold and ice. We spent most of the afternoon working on speech. He also spend part of the evening with Ronda talking so that Mom could get a massage. He didn’t have much of a head ache today. We are looking forward to...
1 tag
2/18/07 - 9:25 PM PST
Being Sunday, John had no therapy. Sally did practice speech therapy with John this morning. She plays a word memory game with him. For example, she will say five objects or nouns, and John needs to come up with the category. Example: Oak, Fir, Elm, Aspen, and Spruce. John said, I know most of those are trees, but he could not remember Aspen or Elm. In any event, it is an exercise to bring back...
2 tags
2/17/07 - 9:10 PM PST
Yesterday, John remembered his computer email password. So today, he decided to delve into his emails. Well, he had 950 emails! So he and Sally are slowly going through them. Some are spam of course and some are group distributions, but it will take him awhile as Sally helps him to read them all. Sally worked with John on speech therapy today using materials from his speech therapist. He was...
1 tag
2/16/07 - 9:13 PM PST
John was pretty excited today as he finally remembered his password to access his computer and email. The system on campus is called Athena vs. Windows. If you will remember from previous blogs, it was a real complicated password. It was in Latin, and had interspersed in it, numbers to replace letters. Voila, today, it just came to him. Maybe this is a sign that the swelling in his brain is...
2 tags
1 tag
2/15/07 - 10:35 PM PST
Today John went to Spalding Hospital as a favor to his speech therapists while he was an “in patient”. They wanted to show John off to their superiors and a Neurologist that recommended a phonics program that John was using. At first we felt this is great because John was doing so well. But it was very intimidating for John. There were about 20 people in the room watching him answer...
1 tag
2/14/07 - 8:11 PM PST
John stayed in the Infirmary today, which was probably a good thing as there was 4 inches of snow today in Boston. Sally and his Aunt Linda worked with John on balancing exercises and reading comprehension exercises. John also received acupuncture today as a remedy for his headaches. The Oxicodone makes him groggy while acupuncture will not. So he will begin receiving acupuncture every Wed for the...
1 tag
2/13/07 - 8:32 PM PST
John spent the day at Spalding Rehab Hospital. This time he was an “out patient.” Thus, he and Sally took a cab from the MIT infirmary to Spalding. Unfortunately, he did not have his old therapists. He had to start over with new assessments from each of the therapists on the 2nd floor, even though 4 floors above him, the therapists there could have saved a lot of red tape. And in one...
1 tag
2/12/07 - 8:49 PM PST
John saw a couple of doctors today. One doctor thought it was possible that he could get his eyesight (peripheral vision) back within the next 18 months or so. A psychologist from MIT also saw John today and told Sally “John has a lot on his plate, but he is handling it very well.” John also went to Mass Gen Hospital for another CT scan. We believe this is the scan that the surgeon...
1 tag
2/11/07 - 8:27 PM PST
John did a little walking exercise today and he played a couple of games with Sally and his Aunt Linda. In the AM he took a walk, which tired him out. He then napped until Lunch. After lunch they played Sequence, a type of card game. Since this involves a little concentration, John tired out after about an hour of this game. He then took another nap. While he slept, Sally’s cousin Siragosa...
1 tag
2/10/07 - 9:58 PM PST
John rested today for much of the day. Sally feels that one of the reasons John is sleeping so much today and yesterday is that he so comfortable with his new surroundings. It is almost like a vacation for John from all of the stress he has been going through. The doctors and nurses are extremely helpful and nurturing for him. It is very peaceful at the Infirmary, although he still gets at least...
1 tag
2/9/07 - 11:17 PM PST
John slept well his first night at the MIT Infirmary. He also wore street clothes today for the first time since 12/14/06. At 2 PM he went back to the Hospital for a visit with Dr Carter the psychiatrist. He got a headache after that and it pretty much persisted the balance of the day. He did enjoy a visit from Rafique, an alum that lived in his fraternity two years ago.
1 tag
2/8/07 - 8:32 PM PST
John moved out of Spalding Hospital to the MIT Infirmary today. John got a nice send off from his doctors, therapists and nurses. One nurse (Carmen) even called him from home as she was ill with the noro virus that is going around the hospital. John loves his new surroundings. He can look out his window (room 485) and see his old class rooms he used to attend at MIT. He said it feels much more...
1 tag
2/7/07 - 8:49 PM PST
Tonight is John’s last night at Spalding Rehab Hospital. Tomorrow he goes to the MIT Infirmary. From there, he will do out patient therapy back at Spalding Hospital traveling by Taxi to the Hospital for therapy, starting next Tuesday. John cannot wait to get out of there. Today, there are more cases of the Noro virus at the hospital. And he got a roommate today who apparently had the virus...
1 tag
2/6/07 - 9:09 PM PST
More news on John’s mystery illness. Apparently he came down with a norovirus (Cruise ship virus?) as 40 workers in the hospital also got sick in the last couple of days. So it was not Mom’s cooking! He is feeling much better today. In speech therapy he plays a game whereby the therapist gives him a category, like clothes, and he has to name 5 articles of clothing. Well today, Sally...
1 tag
2/5/07 - 9:03 PM PST
John is feeling better after his bout with the suspected food borne illness yesterday. He said his stomach is still gurgling. He has used the rest room several times today, but it is better than yesterday. It now sounds like the illness came from the hospital as there were a couple of other patients who had similar symptoms as John. We suspected as much, since Sally, Nora, Kyle and Lonnie did not...
1 tag
2/4/07 - 8:50 PM PST
While John had a great day Saturday at Sally’s apartment, he paid for it on Sunday. Early Sunday, about 2:00 AM, John threw up. He proceeded to throw up two more times before 8:00 AM. We believe the food he had at Sally’s apartment was too rich for his stomach. He had three helpings of Bar-b-coa yesterday and some cheesecake from his Fraternity cook Beverly. No one else got sick, so it...
1 tag
2/3/07 - 11:04 PM PST
John was able to “flee” the hospital for one day. He visited Sally’s apartment where she cooked a homemade meal of Bar-b-coa, rice and beans, one of John’s favorite meals and clearly better than hospital food. Aunt Nora, Uncle Lonnie and cousin Kyle joined John for lunch. This is the first day he has been out of hospitals since 12-14-06 or 50 days. He then surprised his...
1 tag
2/2/07 - 8:26 PM PST
Tonight John called his Dad. They talked for 1 hour and 45 minutes as John could not sleep. He is still on MIT time, meaning he would go to bed at 2:00 AM on many days. He still has his headaches, but he is able to deal with them, kind of. The doctors continues to tweak his medicine. Hopefully they get under control as he is to leave the hospital in about a week. John gets to...
1 tag
2/1/07 - 8:09 PM PST
John was visited by his Aunt Nora and Uncle Lonnie today. They were pleasantly surprised on how well John was talking to them. John kind of relaxed today after his grueling tests yesterday. He did his normal therapy today. He struggled a bit in Occupational Therapy as they did a game that involved reading. It sounds like they will keep him in the hospital at least one more week as they still have...
