Nothing much to report and now that I think of it- that's really good news. Jim seems to have overcome the worst of his illness. His spasms and nerve pains are being well controlled by medication.
He is getting stronger bit by bit. We still are disheartened by his lack of hand mobility. But, it still may come back. He was able to pick up fritos when he was wearing his wrist splints and I put some on a tray on his lap. He said it wasn't worth the effort. I reminded him that the occupational therapist told him that a functional activity helps retrain the brain to control those muscles.
We participated in recreational therapy yesterday. A group of patients and 2 therapists played Uno. The other patients were all brain-injured. One couldn't speak or look at people. Another could walk and talk but was incoherent. I don''t know the prognosis for brain-injured patients. The news about Gabrielle Gifford, the representative that was shot seems contrived to be hopeful. It's reported "she sat up in bed." I know that means that she was in bed and propped up with pillows. Maybe she'll kind of recover but she'll never be the same.
It wasn't any fun playing Uno with the brain injured people so we skipped the next game. We went back to Jim's room and he was put back in bed. He says that sitting in his electric wheelchair is uncomfortable.
I turned on his new Roy Orbison cd and he immediately fell asleep. I let him nap for about an hour. Then I woke him up and fed him his dinner. I massaged his legs and butt to help with his pain. Then I used some dental tools that I purchased to try and clean his teeth. He keeps complaining about his teeth being coated with plaque. I hope that a dentist visits the nursing facility so that he can get some professional help. I'm afraid that I will hurt him.
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