It is a beautiful life we live.  We are thankful to God for all his blessings. 

The consequences of traumatic brain injury can be lifelong.  There is no test to predict the outcome but there are many to determine the damage.  A measure of cognitive hope would be if the patient regains the ability to learn new things.  Michael’s frontal lobe injuries were so severe, short term memory is a huge barrier for recovery.  The ability to remember and retrieve new information would be a definitive marker of hope.  Michael added a quote from Mohammed Ali to his MySpace page because he believes it is a true representation of how he feels “A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I am crowing.”  After reading the quote and then adding it to his page he was able to quote it word for word the following day to Nate and Sylvette.   We thank God for all his blessings.

Self awareness and the process of initiating self care is another deficit Michael has struggled with.  Bobby was out of town last night so this morning when I took Emily to school, I had to leave Michael at the house by himself.  When I left he was at the kitchen table having breakfast but when I returned I didn’t see him anywhere.  I called for him nervously and he answered coming down the stairs. I asked if he had gone to the bathroom, he said that he had gone upstairs to get socks because his feet were cold.  I looked at him and said “that’s huge honey, that’s huge” and gave him a big hug but couldn’t hold back the tears. I probably hugged him three or four times.  I realize that may not seem like anything to cry about and it may be hard for you to relate to what I felt at that moment.  But here it is…

When you’ve faced the possible death of your child, when you fear that the last time you saw him smile would be the last time you saw him smile, when the damage done is described as severe traumatic brain injury and “is your son an organ donor? his chances of survival are slim…if he survives he may be in a coma for 6 months…don’t get your hopes up” comes from the head neurologist…nothing is taken for granted.  Each step toward recovery is a blessing. Self awareness/self care = hope for independent living.

Hearing Michael read the blog this morning and watching his face as he read, I felt the need to share.  For all of you that write to him I want you to know that you speak to his soul.  He feels every word, he is so inspired each day by your words of encouragement and hope. It begins the day with an appreciation for life and gives him strength.  An earlier quote from Michael ”when I read your words, I am energized”.  I cannot thank you enough.

Life - it’s a beautiful thing.

LIVESTRONG Michael.

xxoo