Tuesday/ Wednesday

Well, it has been an exhausting couple of days. I have been trying my best to balance work and Daniel, but it's hard for me to want to do anything to be here. Daniel is a HANDFUL. He's become even more aware and very articulate. Because of that, he has also become aware of the fact that he is in a bed and not allowed to leave. He hates all of his tubes, and complained about each one so much yesterday, that he finally got his way and they almost all came out. They took out the artery line that was in his arm, as well as his feeding tube. He also hated the oxygen tubes in his nose, and kept showing the nurses that he could breathe on his own by taking huge breaths. He grinned really big each time they took one out. He's fighting us now on the heart monitor and the IV going into his neck, but those aren't going anywhere no matter what.

Daniel also wants to get out of bed. Yesterday the physical therapists were just starting to work on having him sit up on the edge of his bed, so he was not ready to stand. His legs were weak and he needed to start slowly, but that really wasn't stopping him. There were several times where mom and I had to physically keep him in the bed because he was so determined to get up. Today he tried walking. The nurses have taken him out and around the halls a couple of times. It wears him out, but he's pretty good at it. Unfortunately, now he thinks he can leave the hospital, ha ha. He keeps asking for his jeans and his shoes because he's ready to go. At this point he's just doing it to tease us, because he knows full well that he's not going anywhere. He can even quote our speech in a mocking voice "blah blah blah, you have to stay here, blah blah blah they have to make you better so you can play basket ball. Well I DON"T WANT TO!" He wants to go back to his apartment and play video games because the hospital is boring. He told us if we take him home, then he will come back in the morning, he promises. :)

He's eating solid food now, but he's discovering that the feeding tube might have been a little more nutritious, because hospital food is gross! For his first meal he got pureed chicken, liquefied green beans, and mashed potatoes. The also brought some yogurt. He was struggling with his spoon, but he really really wanted that yogurt. I tried to help him eat it, but I guess I was going to slow, because all of a sudden he grabbed the yogurt and the spoon from me, held it right under his mouth and started shoveling it in. Between shovels he managed to say 'too slow'.

Somebody suggested that we bring him his ipod, and I found it amongst the belongings he had at the gym. It's been helping him quite a bit! He really likes falling asleep to the music.

Yesterday he was quoting a movie that I did not know, so I switched the subject to SNL skits. We both thought the Justin Timberlake one with Beyonce was hilarious so I brought that up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBC7pilGoPc He immediately said "we're the dancers" and ran his fingers across his face. He started dancing by pumping his hands up and down and throwing his head back like they do in the video and singing 'single ladies, single ladies' It was so hilarious! When the occupational therapist came in, he said 'wanna see me dance?' and he did the dance for her too. He kept it up for about half an hour, because it was making me laugh so hard!

The occupational therapist is having him use this huge rubber band to get his muscle strength back. It's like one of the ones that they give all the missionaries in the MTC. She told him he could keep it and use it about 3 times a day, if he promised not to snap anyone with it. What do you know, two hours later mom gave the thing back to him, and he snapped me with it! He was grinning so big. He tried a couple more times. Now he's only allowed to use it when I'm not there.

You'll all be glad to know that he can now identify the sprinkler head in the ceiling as a sprinkler head. We told him that he has been convinced it's a cockroach for a couple of days, and he wouldn't believe us. We're having a great time telling him all the things that he's been doing! He thinks he's hilarious! The doctors explained that one of the seizure medications would make him talk very slowly, and another one would make him act like he was drunk. They tapered him off of the first one, so his voice came back very clearly today! We could understand everything he said and that was great. The drunk one ends tonight, but boy did we see the effects of that today! He was still flirting with nurses and wanting to call random people on the phone. He kept telling me "I'm in such a goofy mood!"

Daniel is also being very sweet and telling us how much he loves us. He also wants to share all of his meals with us, and he thanks us for everything. He is very nice to all of his doctors too - learns all of their names, shakes their hands, and says thank you when they leave. My mom is hoping that the great manners stick around :)

The doctors started to focus his treatment today on diagnosing the circumstances that lead to his heart arresting instead of on the condition of his brain. They will be doing several test to try and determine what exactly it was that made his heart stop. No matter what they figure out, he will still be getting an implant. They said it will just be the icing on the cake if they can pin point this.

Daniel enjoyed all the letters he's gotten so far! He still gets confused about why his friends are texting my phone or writing him e-mails in my account, but we keep explaining that you are all worried about him and he's been asleep for too long. He even made me read some of the blog to him today, and he really liked hearing the stories all about himself. Keep the letters coming! It sure is helping him to remember things.

We really are seeing miracles in Daniel's recovery. Some of the nurses that were with him when he was in his coma have seen him in the last couple of days, and they are totally amazed! He's passing all of his tests really well. He's not even close yet, but we know this is going to be a really long process. We're SO happy with his progress so far. I don't know how to end these entries very well - so I'll just say I had a great day with my brother and thanks for everything!