Day 448 - Aug 20, 2009

Kevin was in a much better mood today. I had Breezy get up with him and I slept in (actually I just kept rolling over every time the phone rang - which started at 7:30am!). She took him to both of his therapy appointments today too, while I made a billion phone calls pertaining to Kevin's discharge from the Army. I don't think I ever mentioned that because Kevin is 100% disabled, he will actually benefit more from being discharged (did tons of research and weighed all pros and cons). To give only one example - now that we have a pool he can have a therapist come and do pool therapy. He has to become a veteran first though. He cannot have pool therapy while on active duty.

And this evening we went to the MOAA dinner at the hospital and then we went up onto the ward to visit everyone. Kevin walked nearly a mile from one part of the hospital to the other and I was so proud of him. We had his wheelchair with us too, he just chose to walk and I really was ecstatic. He is really building his stamina.

And I can't begin to tell you how many people came up to us and were amazed at the difference in Kevin since the first dinner we went to way back when. And you had to know that Kevin was just showing off, right? LOL.

I did talk to the doc tonight too about increasing both his anti-depressant and his nausea medications and we will be doing that probably tomorrow. We are going to try this route first and I will keep an eye on whether we need to have a CT Scan or not. You just never know if any of these depression symptoms are intracranial pressure. If I see any more signs, I think I am going to opt for the scan though. I know that Hallie asked when his shunt was last checked and that is what the scan will do. It has been a while, but at this point, he really isn't having any of the standard signs - lethargy being the main one that shouts "SHUNT" to me. And before I forget - there have been no new meds or any other changes either.

And I know I have TONS of questions/comments, but I am only going to answer one tonight.

Jessica - Kevin mostly looks at pictures of his friends on his Myspace page. I think he can read some - but not whole paragraphs or anything like that. He more recognizes words than actually reads them. Sometimes he calls me over to read what people have written.

Ok - I know there are so many more (music therapy, male aides, support groups, etc), but they will have to wait for another night. I am tired and want to try to get some sleep.