Jim returns

We have just returned from the hospital having witnessed a miraculous transformation in Jim. He was very sleepy this morning when Brigie, Rose and Pearl visited but at 6:15pm, Brigie and I went in to see him with Flora and Pearl waiting outside in case he was awake and was well enough to see them.

Jim appeared very animated from the start. We put his glasses on him and after seeing him mouth some sentences without being understood, Brigie asked him if we wanted a pen and paper. He nodded, and then he started to write with his (natural) left hand. It was hard to write from a prone position on a clipboard, but his handwriting was not much worse than it had been before the accident.

He wrote "It's been my birthday." We assured him that he had not missed this. He was concerned about his iPod, phone and skateboard. We assured him that none of these had been damaged. He then wrote "I hurt myself badly but I've done amazing things thanks to the support/surgery." He wrote "how long ago did I have this accident?" and we told him about what happened.

Pearl and Flora came in and he wrote "what new stuff did you guys get for Xmas?" They told him about the DVDs of all six seasons of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm that had been a family present and he wrote "They only released season 6 this year". He seemed very eager to communicate by writing, but this was making him tired. He also forgot some of the answers and mouthed "what happened to me?" after we had explained it earlier. But this time after I explained, he mouthed "was anyone killed?" and after hearing the answer, he mouthed "thank God", two words that have a deeper meaning than he realizes right now. The last thing he wrote was "Who is this guy?" with an arrow pointing to one of the nurses.

The writing had really tired Jim out, and it was time to leave him to rest. For the first time since the accident Jim looked at ease when we left, and seemed comfortable with the assurance that we would return in the morning. It was a euphoric drive home.