Live long and prosper

As Jim's recovery continues we are now updating the blog less frequently. Despite the occasional flat spot, he continues to amaze us with quantum improvements in capability.

Yesterday, there was not much to report. Jim was distressed when he woke at 7 am and sent continual text messages to us requesting our presence in ward 81, which is impossible because it is closed before 11 am. This means he had four hours to kill in the morning that he told us was very irritating and distressing. But when we visited he was happy and responsive, although his short-term memory was still showing signs of impairment.

Yesterday evening he appeared less distressed than previous evenings. I "shared" a hospital meal with him that for the first time he ate with some enthusiasm (or at least absence of disgust). This is another step forward in building his strength and morale. He talked about a wide range of things ranging from the discoveries of Galileo to the massacres in Rwanda, interspersed with his occasional excursions into the surreal.

This morning the text messages were less panicked and appeared less frequent. We visited from 11 am when ward 81 opens to 1 pm, when the ward closes. We have started to test Jim's short-term memory. I asked him to list his Christmas presents, and he could not at first, but with concentration by the end of the visit he could list the four major presents and describe each one. He also recalled something I had said on the phone to him (that I had actually forgotten saying).

This evening's visit made Jim very happy. Some of his closest friends from school paid him a visit. He was very pleased to see them. He also had a home-cooked meal which he ate with gusto. To our suprise, he could recall all his Christmas presents without any prompting.

In my previous post I mentioned that the "motor strip" that controls the right side body movements is on the left side of the brain, a region that was bruised in Jim's injury. This means that delicate finger movements in his right hand might take time to reappear. This evening Jim gave us a demonstration of his right hand dexterity. He could reproduce finger and thumb opposing movements easily. When we asked him for Mr Spock's Vulcan salute he obliged with both hands and then showed variations of it with his right hand that he had practised in those empty hours of time that teenagers fill with who knows what. I am not sure whether Star Trek imitations lie in a different part of the brain, but his dexterity leaves us very optimistic about the return of his right side motor skills.