Scooter Relief Fund

Awesome day,

Walker and I cruised over to O-Town to see Mike and he was super receptive. He was making eye to eye with both of us as we talked with him and trying to reply as best as he could.

I guess they changed the trach tube so now he can make more noise and be more directly involved in his communication.    It was great for the sake of progress, but frustrating for Mike on the level that we couldn’t understand what he was trying to convey.

Unfortunately, although Mike had a lot to say the only one word we were able to get clearly was “FUCK!” which, I think was a response to his frustration to our inability to understand what he was trying to get across.   It was still great with the rest of his most awesome attempts to tell us what he wanted to say… it must have been frustrating so we made the visit short.

Mike tried to get both Dave and me to help him up and take him home.

Shortly after this, as I was asking Mike about the frequency of  his therapy sessions his therapist came in and she told us that he is doing great.  He is a bit hyper so he was going to have today off.

Mikes manual dexterity, with both right and left hands,  is progressing as quickly as his demonstrated awareness is. To think, that less than a month ago Mike didn’t seem aware of who was visiting him or even his location…Getting to the point of recognizing his pals is awesome… All I can say is that is Miraculous to me.

Mike is a strong dude and he knows that he has a LOT to get back to.  Talking about Ian,  Milo and Sarah all brought on good grins.

When we got there Mike had slid down the bed about a foot too far and we got a nurse to help me get  him back up on his proper place, up where his head is near the top of the bed instead of a foot down.  Last week they changed his bed out while I was there and the nurses couldn’t figure out how to add the end’o'bed extension for tall dudes, so if someone notices Mike has his heels down over the footboard of the bed frame maybe this is something we want to ensure that they take care of.  I’ll make a note of mentioning it to the nurses next week again… I have just been so in awe of seeing Mike’s progress that I haven’t thought about making any waves.  Realy, y’all, it is astounding.

In comparison to when I first saw Mike, 3.5 weeks ago, this is really a superfantasticfabulouswonderfulhappyfeelingroovy report everyone!

And I’ll tell ya what, Mary Poppins can’t compete with that.

More reports comin’ next week.

-Scott

OH! The therapist came in and asked Dave and me if we were family, and, although I didn’t get to see it, Dave tells me that Mike grimaced like -+=SUPERFROWN=+- NO!!!  DO WE LOOK RELATED?!

Great day, Mike is doing SUPER well! Dexterity and eye to eye are vastly improved. I think now it is gonna be a matter of frustration and time. Our visit exhausted him and he started napping so we split.

Sarah visited today, and says Mike was very communicative. He is trying to talk, but it is not very easy to understand. He responds well to yes or no questions, nodding his head up and down. However, he is very agitated, thrashing and yelling, and saying things like, “Get me out of here,” which the nurses say is very common for people coming out of a coma. At one point, Sarah took his hand out of the restraints to hold it, and he immediately started pulling at his tubes. On a brighter note, Sarah sang to Mike and he responded well, telling her to keep singing when she stopped. Mike has been making such good progress over the last week–hopefully it will continue exponentially, and he will soon be able to speak clearly. Sarah sends her love and thanks to everyone who came to the fish fry at the Tap, and everyone else who has shown support during this difficult time. Keep up the good work, and keep checking this site. I’m sure the news will get better and better each day!
-Marg

Good visit yesterday. Best measure of improvement yet, I think. Mike seemed much more responsive to people & stimulus. He seemed more attentive & aware.
Mike’s step mother, Eileen, arrived shortly after I did, with music and a massage device to stimulate Mike’s muscles and blood flow. She worked him over pretty good, and Mike seemed to respond well. Eileen also brushed Mike’s teeth & cleaned him up a bit. All the while, she sang to him & tried to jog his mind w/ pictures of Mike, his father Jim, and brother Jeremy.
I did notice that Mike was moving around in bed so much that he has beaten up his left knee w/ the plastic boot/cast on his right foot. I put a pillow on his knee, wrapped it all w/ a sheet, and informed the nurses. Hopefully they will be able to provide a better solution.
Very encouraging yesterday–lots of hand squeezing & some gestures/ facial expressions. I even thought I saw his lips moving in an attempt to speak, however the nurses told me that the tracheostomy would prevent him from being able to speak successfully.
-Andy

Sarah visited Mike on Sunday and says he was responding well to her. He smiled in response to something she said. He seemed more lucid than he has been since the accident.
-Marg

I went to see Mike about a week and a half ago and he was awake for a little while.  After he went to sleep one of the nurses came by and while we were talking she said that she had seen notable improvement and that she can usually get him to stick his tongue out at her and squeeze her hand.  She tried to get him to do it while I was there but he was too tired.

Spent a couple of hours there reading and basically just telling Mike stories and stuff.  Especially any good news I could think of.

It was great to see him, he was very active.  I’m looking forward to (hopefully) going back out next Wednesday.

Scott