and then along comes Tuesday...

What a difference a day makes. When I got to Clarkston and went to Brians room, he and his chair were missing in action. I assumed that he was in the therapy room but, no Brian. I checked out the lounge, the "main cruising circle', the community dining room...EVERYWHERE! Still, no Brian (or Rachel for that matter). I asked Sal if he had seen him, but he had just arrived. Finally, Nurse Deb said that he might be in the speech office. She took me there and voila!!...Brian and Rachel, and April. After a nice hello hug and kiss, April asked Bri what Moms favorite TV show was..."not Sex in the City.......not Family Guy" (so far,so good) then, "Law and Order". Right on Brian! (He could have said football, baseball, basketball etc. but I digress). She asked him to tell me what he did today in therapy. He told me that he threw a ball. Again, what did you do today in therapy? "I threw the ball at Sarah". Ha Ha. So, what he REALLY did in therapy was walk the distance of the parallel bars 5 times!!!!! (Rachel is a witness!) He held the bar with his right hand and Sarah with his left. Rachel said that he held his feet in line and they didn't cross. Awesome! He did a lot of clapping when we applauded him. It was so obvious that he was joining in on our wry jokes and sense of humor. He identified his favorite teacher as Mr. Grothaus (8th grade) and his favorite high school class as Russian...kudos to you Mrs. Okun. I hope that April keeps up the intense speech workout.
Next...the three of us are in the lounge talking and Brian was pretty darn responsive. He was looking at me, on his left, and Rachel on his right. He answered questions, laughed and joked. I left the room to get my purse and when I got back, Rachel was on the couch and the aide was helping Brian out of his chair and on to the couch next to Rachel. Apparantly this was his idea. As soon as he sat his keester down, (my apologies to Rachel), he put his arm around her, squeezed her shoulder, kissed her on the top of her head. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a very long time. So sweet! He just wanted to be close to the love of his life. That was my cue to exit, stage left! I hope to see much more couch sitting.
Sheila, the case worker, said that she is trying to get Brian into the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM) which is back at Harper. It is the Cadillac of rehab (they say), and Kathy worked there when she was younger, in the 20th century! Clarkston says that he tolerates therapy very well and would most likely qualify. Problem is that my insurance is most likely going to fight this. I am getting questioned about where he will go when he is released from this place. Obviously, he will come home, but what provisions must be made are still mind-boggling to me. We will get through this too, just like we are getting through all of this...prayer, prayer, prayer.
Hopefully, tomorrow Brian will enjoy some peppermint cheesecake courtesy of Judy. She has 10 or 12 of them stashed away for him. He is definately looking forward to this treat!!!
Still not sure about the frequency of teeth brushing. Rachel and I talked about getting any problems fixed as soon as he blows this joint! I will probably talk to my neighbor who is my former dentist. His wife is a dear friend who prays for Brian all the time and asks for specific needs. His son, Kevin, is a good friend of Gregs.
All in all...a very good day!!! I needed it and I'm sure Rachel did too!
Til next time, Marcy