Sunshine

I saw my brother this weekend for the first time in several weeks. It's hard not to see him for long stretches because I rely on other people for updates, but at the same time, I get to see his progress more dramatically. As Amy mentioned in her post last week, the biggest change is in how alert and awake he is.

My mom and I arrived yesterday to find him with his eyes open. Recently, his open eye moments have been much more frequent, and yesterday, he spent the majority of the time with eyes wide open. Sometimes he looks at us, sometimes he looks at the tv, and he seems to really focus on pictures when we show them to him.

Accomplishments lately include: pointing his finger on command (he only did it once, but he did it fairly quickly after I showed him what I wanted him to do), moving his legs on command (thank you Jimmy!), and generally following commands more frequently. The nurses and therapists will tell us "he squeezed my hand when I asked" - it's nice to know other people are having success with commands as well.

Today was the first day Aron has been outside in almost three months. After a lot of maneuvering, Aron was outside on the patio. It is a beautiful day today, and it was nice to be able to spend some time with him in the fresh air with fewer disturbances. Some friends from church and Griffiths Middle School visited, and he did a thumbs up a couple of times for them, one time almost immediately after I asked.

These recent developments have me thinking. He can hear us, that is certain, and he is sometimes able to act upon what we tell him. Now more than ever, is the time to speak positively to him. We've been encouraging him each time we see him with his eyes open. We tell him he is getting better, that he needs to keep trying, and how much we love him.

Every evening, my mom is at the hospital, and there is almost always someone there from our family or Amy on the weekend. If you want to spend some time alone with him, he doesn't have people with him on weekday mornings and early afternoons. If you're there with him, this is what we'd like to request: speak positively - it is ok to tell him he had a a skateboard accident, but be sure to tell him he is getting better. If you'd like to try to get him to follow commands, stick to simple things and stay on the same one (for example, don't ask him to do hands, legs, ect, all at the same time, just work on one thing and keep repeating yourself.)

As far as prayer: my family, Amy and her family, and Aron's friends are appreciative of everyone's constant support. Specific things to pray for now: first and foremost that the function in Aron's brain is restored. We are also advocating that Aron be approved for more therapy now that he is more awake, please pray that he is approved for this and can benefit from the extra stimulation. We feel Aron is very close to being considered for relocation to an advanced rehab facility. Please pray hard that Aron can wake up enough to be transferred to rehab. When we compare where we were a month ago, Aron has made major progress - please pray for progress progress progress.

On a personal note: lately random memories of Aron have been popping into my head, things I haven't thought of in years - his escapades with explosives and the time he almost blew up the pool, the summer he decided to learn how to ride a unicycle, the time we were pulled over and almost arrested on Christmas day night (remember, Jordan?), the time he decided to stop brushing his hair to see if he could grow dreadlocks (there were three), the bowling scores and quarter mile times he would stick to the fridge, following him down double black diamond runs - I could go on forever. I realize that many people reading this blog have all kinds of memories with him too. I ask that when these things do pop into your head, that you send up a prayer rather than getting sad. It's what I'm trying to do rather than sinking into my sadness. We all miss him so incredibly much.