October 31

Happy Halloween. I made it back from Houston safely on Wednesday night. I stopped to see Kirk on my way home. It has been a few days since I have posted. He continues steady on with physical progress. He eats in the dining room at rehab. We are doing a calorie count right now to see if he is taking in enough calories to remove the feeding tube. He can eat whatever he wants and had 7 crunchy California rolls and a little snickers today. I am taking him chili tomorrow. It was a little slow the first few days but he is definitely eating more now so maybe early next week we can get rid of the last tube. He can also swallow all his pills and liquid medications. So one other thing we don't need a tube for anymore.  I say the last tube because we also got rid of the catheter this week.

He also can do more basic tasks with minimal cues. For example he can take a shower by himself and might only need a reminder to use shampoo. That is so much more than before. He was also batting a baloon in PT and I was pleased with his eye hand coordination.

He walks more and without a walker. He is pretty wobbly so we will see if that resolves with time. It also seems he doesn't see fully out of his left eye. He sometimes walks into things on that side. We can't sort that out until he communicates more consistently. The cognitive skills are still much slower in improvement. He has reached the point where his physical abilities exceed his cognitive ability so he sleeps in a bed tent and must otherwise be monitored if he isn't in the tent. He just isn't steady enough on his feet but doesn't know that.

When I went to visit today I got a back rub. I also asked if he wanted to be married to me. He said he wanted to be married to an American and I was the best choice. Some of the things he says are hysterical.

Sidney and I trick or treated while Carolyn and Barbara handed out snacks at the house. We handed out pretzels. Those are good because they are acceptable snacks at school. We had a great time trick or treating. Afterwords we hung out at a neighbors for a while and just chilled and chatted. I'll get a picture of the pumpkins tomorrow. I am too out of steam tonight.

Stormy's training is going really well.  Last night we had dog training, swimming, I carved two pumpkins and toasted the seeds. I crashed into bed.

It is very likely that Kirk will move again this week. Please pray for discernment for me as I look at options to try to choose the best next step for Kirk and his recovery. This is the last step before coming home and I need to get this right.