An Overdue Update

It's been over a week since I've posted. To all you "loyal" readers ... my apologies. I find it difficult to post when there's nothing "new" to report. I could tell you about what he had to eat, and how he much he enjoys trying to teach Joey to roll-over, and how grumpy he gets when his orange juice is poured into an improper glass ... you know ... the everyday minutiae of living with an anal-retentive 20 year-old .... but I find that a little arrogant. I like to give you informative "stuff" that has consequence and meaning in Conor's recovery. Despite my previous reports about his bowel movements ... you don't need to know that stuff any more.

This week was full of the usual therapies. The physio missed out on Thursday because of two sick kiddies. I joked with her that it doesn't matter whether their 3 years old or 20 ... you want to be there to nurture them through it.

The speech pathologist and the occupational therapist are astounded at Conor's cognitive recovery. It's all come back. The two areas that he had some noticeable difficulties were vision and, believe it or not, rhythm. These are apparently quite common in right brain injuries. The rhythm was news to me, and Conor relayed that when he played guitar (which he now does quite regularly), his timing was all off. When he's watching MTV ... he tries to "keep beat" with his hand. This obviously was not coming as second nature, and he has had to focus and concentrate on this aspect of playing guitar. The therapists were thrilled at his own insight into his shortcomings, and his ability to problem solve and find his own exercises to strengthen this inadequacy ... one of them commented that he obviously didn't need her. Over the past little while, Conor claims that he really doesn't have problems with his vision ... unless he's really tired. If I had to put my finger on a residual problem ... I would have to say that he tires much easier than before the accident. His attention drifts marginally quicker than before ... keep in mind he's male so it was never great to begin with ... and he tires much more easily. He is masking it well ... but it's hard to hide things from Mum! But that's pretty well it ... his speech is back to normal (not so precise), his ability to be distracted while trying to focus on something else is back to normal, and he's able to see. The key to everything, I guess is the old adage ... "use it -- or lose it". He's got to exercise those parts of the brain and the therapist has given him crossword puzzles, word puzzles, problems, etc.

Now, orthopaedically. The new bone growth in the leg is coming along very well. The surgeon is thrilled with how his leg is healing ... well ahead of schedule (of course). The screws that hold the rod in place at the knee, however, are rubbing on the various tissue on the outside of the knee. The bolt heads are on the inside of the knee, and the ends are on the outside of the knee. The surgeon indicated that he had to use longer than normal screws because of the break just above the knee. He has acknowledged that the screws will have to come out early ... but he has to wait until the knee break heals a bit more. If the screws come out early, the rod can twist and turn inside the bone ... and perhaps break through the entire knee. Not a good thing. So ... Conor has to strengthen his quad (which is difficult on two fronts --- the pain from the screws and the nerve damage) in order for all of this to come together and the rod to heal well inside the femur. The x-rays are sooo cool. I wish I could get a copy to post them for you to see. Anyways ... this ortho doesn't need to see us till mid-February when hopefully the knee break will have healed sufficiently. In addition ... Conor can now fully weight bear on his leg! Unbelievable... nine weeks ago today ... Conor nearly lost that leg (nearly lost his life) and now there is every indication that full strength should return. No more wheelchair (that's been relegated to the spare room), soon no more crutches, graduation to a cane ... and then ...

Now the wrist is a bit of a different story. We are waiting for a call from the wrist specialist we saw a few weeks ago. He wants to consult with the wrist specialist at the General before formulating a plan of action. The wrist is misaligned ... out by about 2 mm. This cannot be left as is because it will slowly but surely wear away the joint. As I've said before, Conor no longer has any cartilage in his wrist joint. He will have arthritis.... but as the ortho says ... he's only 20 ... let's give him as long as possible before arthritis sets in. There is a surgery where they take a piece of bone from around your knee and transplant it into your wrist. The transplanted bone has cartilage attached and it will give Conor some additional years before the arthritis sets in. Conor didn't seem too put out by the thought of an additional surgery and realizes that NOW is the best time for it to occur. I suspect he's also figured out that he's a good healer (there's an understatement) and may as well have everything done now. The real down side of this, at the moment, is that they don't want him to weight bear on the wrist (so no regular crutch) because while they can repair the arm bone part of the wrist ... they cannot really do anything to the hand bone side if damage was to occur. Better safe than sorry. So ... we're just waiting for the wrist specialist to call us for the consultation ... I'll keep you posted on all developments.

Tonight, Conor and I will head over to the Bolgers for supper. Haven't been there for a while ... and frankly ... I've been suffering withdrawal! This will be Conor's first major outing ... and I am looking forward to it. Tomorrow, his beloved Colts are playing the despised Patriots (Conor's words here) and he is going over to his buddy Randy's house to watch the game! Two outings in one weekend ... such a gadabout! Needless to say (and all you mothers of teenagers/young adults can appreciate), the planning for the outing tomorrow is a little lacking ... but magically ... it will surely all come together at the last minute. I don't know how they does it ... but they does it!

Well .. there's my update. Still no major setbacks to report ... and that makes me feel so good. Everything is still on the right track and headed in the right direction. Luck (and divine intervention) is still on our side. Till the next time ... I remain ... very grateful, very hopeful and marginally less tired!