Darren’s therapy set up for this week and next (OT) and I have his first Speech Therapy set up. They want and evaluation before they let us schedule more. So Wednesday- outpatient therapy starts. He is having that locally here in Olathe.

Called KU Med to get his stitches out scheduled and they wanted him to come in today! So we headed to KU this afternoon. As soon as the RN came out to get him – he recognized her!!! She was the same person that took out his staples back in November. I had given him some pain medication before we left. He still had some major “hurt” when they were removed.

Called the Optometrist and go him an appointment as well. After talking to the doctor we were advised that we should wait 6 months before he goes and gets new glasses.

Darren will continue to have Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy but now it is Outpatient!

Darren sent me a text at 9am and asked me when I was coming to get him. They did not have him scheduled for any therapy today. So I finished up some stuff at home and got him out of there!!

He was working on a patient satisfaction survey- and he made it known he did not like the food.

We got home and he climbed up the stairs and plopped down in his chair and proceeded to fall asleep. He napped for about an hour and a half and then he decided he wanted Chinese to eat.

His first plate was full of Crab Rangoon and Sushi. He took a bite of the Sushi and said “Oh yes! That has some kick to it! I like that!” So I think his taste buds are returning. He certainly is enjoying food a bit more.

We arrived at Bud’s room to find the lights on and he was smiling when he saw us!!! Everyday when we have come the light have been dimmed and he has been frustrated and grumpy. I think he realizes how close he is to coming home too!!!

I got a text message earlier in the day “I’ve been having fun by arguing and showing that I’m not a bad person.” When I asked him what he was arguing about he replied “I’m tired of hearing this other stuff.” He really dislikes his nurse in the morning and way she wakes him up. He has hidden all the chair and bed alarms. He makes his bed so they don’t put another one in. He checks his bed after his therapy sessions to make sure a new one has not been installed. He took a shower on his own last night, and he was not reminded not to get his head wet. So they made him take another shower today- and I guess he got his head wet again. so he got a mini lecture about it while we were there. I have a shower cap for him to use here at the house- since he does not get his stitches out until Feb 27th.

I brought him Sonic and he ate that down quick!!! We then proceeded to play several rounds of UNO.

Poor guy!!! He won a few a couple of nights ago. But he was laughing and having a good time playing those Draw Two’s and those Draw Four Wilds.

We quizzed him about his day- and he said he biked and did some leg lifts with weights. He thought he baked something but wasn’t sure. He was asked to fix a staff person’s IPAD and update it. He told them “It is an Apple… that is your problem” ha ha ha!!! Still hasn’t lost his humor! Nman quizzed him as well. Darren is quicker in answering questions like “What year is it?” He still doesn’t get it right the first time, but he is not having long lags in his responses. He knows where to find the answer if he is not correct.

Here is his incision as of today.

Sexy huh??? He has another week with these stitches.  I think they are keeping them in a bit longer because before- he had some issues when it separated and it is along the same incision as before. We didn’t count the actual number of incisions like we did with the staples though.  Personally, I can’t wait to get that white tape off his glasses!! I want him to get new glasses when this is done.

He was sad we were leaving but it is a school night. Tomorrow night Nman has Scouts tomorrow night so it will just be me Thursday. As we were getting ready to go his parents called.

But if tonight is any clue as to what we have ahead of us- I am happy and thrilled at the healing of this serious surgery. When I was getting texts from him earlier in the week. I was nervous and not sure what would happen when he comes home, but tonight’s visit he was calm, and not in pain and was laughing and he was actually talking and following along with the conversation. We heard the story of the Ipad a few times, but so what! He is remembering things and improving…

Darren started texting me about 8:00am. He told me he ate breakfast (couldn’t remember what though) and said that he would not be done with his  therapy until 3:30pm. I called the Rehab Hospital and left a message with his Social Worker. She called me back and we set up a meeting for later today.  I told Darren about the meeting and he was glad we were going to get some answers today.

The Social Worker came into the room while Darren was in the room as well- so Darren was there while we discussed everything. OT and PT are pretty confident in his skills. He does need to do some kind of exercise when he gets out – whether it will be formal therapy or not is yet to be determined. I know when Darren comes home – he is going to take his son to school in the morning and we are going to hit the Mall and walk every morning.

We discussed his plan to get discharged. Darren will definitely need to have extensive Speech Therapy due to his severe short term memory loss. He is back to asking me the same questions over and over again (he did this before surgery) and he does not seem to really taste his food. Nothing sounded good for supper — he takes a few bites and shoves it away no matter what he is eating. Nothing tastes really good to him. He does prefer his Orange Gatorade over water though.

But here – it is… The plan is to have him discharged THIS FRIDAY!!! 

We celebrated by playing UNO and Darren won two rounds and I won one round and we were about to play a third round when his cousins James and Deborah called to chat with him.

Darren made a cake in his OT today- but he does not remember baking it. He remembers following the recipe. He said he biked again- about 15 miles.

Darren has overcome the chair/bed alarms. He has unhooked them and he hid them in his dresser. I found them putting some clothes away. So I made him hold them while I took the picture. He said “Hurry up before they find out where I hide them!”

Here he is thinking about what he wanted to tell me. He is using that eyebrow- that is for sure!!!

The doctor came in to check him out- he glared at the McDonald’s on his tray. Oh well… Darren only ate one cheeseburger and no fries. He checked him out and asked about his head pain. He asked about his tremors… yes, they are still there- and will continue to be there. Darren has accepted it.

We said “See you later” but after we got a good picture of him and his son. He really had a good day. His headache is still there, but not as often.