Les got settled into his new room around 9pm last night. Jason stayed the night with him and neither of them slept much. Les’ internal clock has been off since the surgery and he has been waking up in the wee hours of the morning. Last night before bedtime he was told he could have pancakes for breakfast, so the entire night he kept asking when his pancakes were going to come.
Pancakes finally came at about the same time the Occupational Therapist came. Les was able to tear himself away from the pancakes long enough to explore the gigantic ball of silly putty she brought in. She has “hidden” objects inside the silly putty and he needed to “dig” them out with his hands. It was a great idea to get him interested in using both hands again.
Soon after breakfast, Les and Jason went over to the Activity Center where a special guest was performing. The musician brought tons of percussion instruments to entertain the kids. Les thought it was a little too loud so they didn’t stay long.
The Physical Therapist came by and took Les to the gym. Les was tested on his ability to navigate while being in a bed. They had him roll on his sides and the sit up so his legs dangled from the edge of the bed. They also had him walk with assistance. He’s being fairly cooperative through all this. While at the gym, he was fitted with a wonderful wheelchair with tons of adjustments. Les spent the rest of the day sitting in his new chair and going for a ride around Children’s hospital with mom and dad.
The tumor was affecting the muscle control of the right side of Les’ body. The surgeon said to expect the symptoms to be worse after surgery for a while because that area of the brain would be aggravated and swollen as a result of the surgery. When the brain “heals” the control should come back. This could take a couple weeks to a couple months or more to happen.
Les chooses to use his left hand most often, however, Cillia brought him an ICEE from the McDonalds downstairs for dessert after dinner and he automatically reached (OK, grabbed) it from Cillia’s hand using his left hand. That left his right hand to operated the spoon, which he did amazingly well. He was still very shaky and Cillia had to change his pajamas when he was done, but eating the ICEE was great reward for his efforts.
Ever since Gammie saw him on Wednesday afternoon, Les has repeatedly told us that he wants to go to Gammie’s house and spend two nights and eat Papa Barry’s biscuits. This had been the plan last Friday night before we switched gears and brought him to the ER. As soon as everyone is back home and able to, Les will be redeeming his rain check for a stay at Gammie’s.
Tonight, Grandma Sue showed up to sit with him, allowing Jason and Cillia to go to Grandma’s for some much needed rest.