Drew getting better day by day!

So far Drew is responding well. He continues to recover slowly and has a lot of great feedback from the nurses and physical therapists who are working with him. Mom says he has therapy Mon to Fri every day during the day.

There is not much to report – he has his bouts of depression – you can see it on his face but he is starting to look very healthy. His hair really grew fast!!! He has his really wide eye attentive days and droopy eyes days or even a mix of both! – it all depends on how hard his days are - therapy wise and the visitors he might have. He is starting to move more and more such as his head, left arm and leg. When I propped him up last night, he look like he was determined to get out of his bed, poor thing. We all continue to encourage him to move, move and move as much as possible.

Yesterday, he is supposed to get the breathing tube off his neck – but it was still on when I visited him – a nurse said most likely will take it off today – very good news – this means he is now breathing very well on his own. They closed his breathing tube a couple days ago.

My family and I continue to visit him daily, as much as possible, talk to him/chat with him, read to him by putting his favorite books in front of his face to be able to read and putting on dvd movies for him before we go – I’ve been holding up his Manga books in front of him at a certain distance and flipping the pages when he closes his eyes – it’s hard to tell if he understands you but so far – he catches little things… I told him to blink slowly when he wants me to flip the page… don’t automatically think he can really respond by blinking… it isn’t always certain.

Another tiny good sign mom told me about was – he was asked to cough to check something and he did!

If you can visit him – please feel free to wake him up if is sleeping; make him comfortable if he doesn’t look comfortable; ask the nurses any questions if you you’re uncertain about something; always encourage him and give him “pep talks!”

Til the next posting! :)

My Visit with Drew

Back to UK! My time in St. Louis was very precious. I visited my brother about three times between October 1st and the 2nd. When I arrived, he was in therapy surrounded by people checking on his stats. While I was so happy to see him, it broke my heart to see him in such a delicate state. He seemed healthy and was awake with his adorable glasses on. I tried to sign to him as much I could while trying to get his eyes to focus on me. Sometimes I knew I was signing too fast and would remember to repeat things slower. I have to say the hardest thing was leaving my brother when I went back to say goodbye to him Thursday morning before going to the airport.

I asked so many questions about what happened and his health between my mom, younger sister Amanda and the nurses taking care of him. His broken bones are healing but his wrist is healed. He wears a removeable brace on each hand halfway to his arm to keep him from clenching his nails into his middle hands on and off. I would massage his hands when I got the chance with his lotion and his wrists lightly. Feel free to do this if you can! Mom has a bag of his things in a closet in his room with all the little things. Sometimes I would put lip balm on him because his lips can get dry. He doesn’t eat on his own yet and has a feeding tube coming out of him.

It is hard to communicate with him, he tends to blink a lot but he will focus on you as much he can. One time, mom wrote on this scribble board, “Move your arms,” and you have to hold this board in front of his face for a long time, then he attempts to move his arms! It’s amazing. The first time I went, it was with my mom and Amanda. The second time, I took my younger sister Ivy with me, then two of my friends showed up to visit and would keep me company, talk to him a bit and we would chat in front of Drew. Mom came with my brother Clark later on as well. During this time, he really kept his eyes open, I would explain a bit about what my friends and I were talking about every now and then while comforting him in little ways. I had Ivy bring a couple of his favorite books – they’re like comic books – still don’t quite understand them but I would flip a page into his face to look at for a few minutes before moving on to a new page. He does move his eyes around the pages I put in front of him!

I felt, during this experience, stimulation is a really good thing so I will try to visit him every day when I get back to the states and expose him to different things as much I can – his favorite books, games, pictures, do some storytelling, etc. Visiting him will always be hard but I know he will love the company. Can you imagine just sitting around not being able to do anything, trapped in a body that can’t seem to coordinate with your brain? I truly believe that he wants to respond in more ways but can’t. The extent of his brain damage is unknown because his brain was moved/shaken up in the accident, due to this, knowing how fast he can recover is unpredictable right now. However, everyone around me said the signs are very good.

His hospital room has a few memoirs such as pictures on his closet, football helmet from Brentwood High School; at home – more sweet gifts. One thing that really touched me was his Gallaudet football helmet – a note with it says – this is yours until you recover along with a football signed by everyone on Gallaudet’s football team. Amazing how supportive everyone is.

I hope to meet some of you very soon and please continue praying for his recovery and visit Drew if you can. Hugs.

Love, Alex