Progressing really well!!! Able to sign!

November has been an amazing month for Drew!! Sorry if I haven’t been here for a while. I have so much to report that finally I am here! The last 3 weeks have been really amazing… My family and I continue to visit Drew everyday and try to work with him. So far Drew has been trying to sign for some time – with his left hand. Unfortunately, it is VERY hard to read his signs but you can comprehend/make out what he’s trying to say. He is able to try to say no by rubbing his index finger and thumb together… yes by trying to fist up his hand or move his head in a yes position. He is able to fingerspell words if you ask him to say something simple (we can’t over stimulate him too much yet). He was able to spell many words but takes time. Sometimes he really tries to SIGN things but he has limited movement but you can notice he TRIES! It’s so hard but we continue to encourage him and to be patient – that it will take time for us to understand him.

His left side of brain is a bit MORE slow to respond so he cannot move his right side that much at the moment. However, the doctors are very pleased with his recovery. They expect him to have a FULL recovery eventually in the months to come. He continues to work with physical therapists during the week Monday to Friday. My family and I bring him new movies, things to do and entertain him when we can. Recently, I brought scrabble pieces last Friday – he is ABLE to pick out letters if you ask him to spell something – but you cannot give him too many letters or he will be overloaded and start picking wrong letters to just please you. I would ask him to spell our names… and add just 3 or 4 more letters. Sometimes I would work on the sign language ABC with him one by one for him to try out.

Also, I created many BIG INDEX cards with a bunch of questions on them – with cards that even say NO or YES on them. You can ask him small questions and he will TRY to answer it – but if you ask him something and expect him to reply in fingerspelling or sign – you will not be able to understand. Ask him questions that lead to a no, yes, I don’t know or something you know he WILL answer to. It’s pretty amazing. He can even SMILE or give a HUG if you ask him to. It’s incredible. Drew had a LOT of visitors on Saturday and Sunday that the poor thing was completely exhausted and couldn’t do anything today (according to my mom!) Oh yes, at one point last week, my family and I would let Drew try out air hockey (in Ranken Jordon's activity area) and he TRIED to lightly "kick the puck" with his left hand (in a wheelchair) many times!

He had another MRI scan for his brain last week – so far the doctors say he is progressing very nicely… and he is able to move his head to the right or left, much more attentive to people around him.

Another note to make - one day, he was in some kind of cooking class, the doctor asked him to pick up cilantro and put it in a bowl – and he did! The doctor turned off his DVD player and asked him to turn it on – and he did! So very small steps but GIANT for him!

Continue to pray for his speedy recovery!…. HUGS!

Football on Sundays with the Family

Sunday, November 2nd, my sister Courtney, husband David (Drew’s brother in law) and Bella (Drew's 3 yr old niece) were in St. Louis for the weekend. My Uncle Brian and Aunt Cindy, mom, and all the siblings except for Amanda (stuck working in KC!) were all at Ranken Jordan to watch the football game with Drew. What a moment! We had a couple friends in during the day as well.

We took over a big section of the "lobby area" outside of Drew's room - he was in his wheelchair - always moving his head (stubbornly - later on - always putting it down), his left arm and legs... he still can't really communicate with us but he watched the game and let us talked to him sometimes. I saw Drew's main doctor come over and talked to mom about various things - when I asked what it was about - Mom said that this is one of his best recovery weeks so far - because he has been really moving a lot more and got his breathing tube thereby breathing completely on his own. The doctor even said – that he expects Drew to make a FULL RECOVERY one day! So this is really good news but let’s continue to pray for his health! Just a bit of an update. Hugs. Alex