January 10

I went for Kirk's second monthly meeting on Monday. He has been at Neurorestorative for almost 2 months now. Every meeting is difficult. I am still deep in the heart of grieving. I miss the old Kirk and it is difficult to walk this journey. Kirk worked hard to become a nurse and a linguist. And now he is working hard to walk, read, and simply live.

That all being said he is making some progress. There have been no repeats of events like those before Thanksgiving where he was so confused and unwilling to go to the clinic. He is very compliant and is building endurance. He can do 10 to 15 minutes of arm bike or stationary bike. He is taking shorter breaks and doing a bit more weight with the excel isles that use weight.

He exhibits better balance. He could not stand on one foot at all when he got there. He can stand on his right leg for about 9 seconds and 4 on his left. He still does not correct his balance quickly though. He can't catch himself which is part of why he needs the cane, which he mostly carries around with him and is never near when he starts to fall.

He still substitutes words to a point that makes him hard to converse with. However he is better at naming every day objects based on seeing them and descriptions. He is also able to more accurately copy words. He was re-ordering the letters and adding letters before. And he is starting to be able to read. He also has started to verbalized his difficulty seeing. We know it's there based on observable behavior but now he can acknowledge it. We won't treat anything formally until 6 months. He is still changing too much and can't yet accurately say what is going on.

The conclusion is he will stay for another month and we will meet again in February.

Sidney and I made it through the first week back to work and school. It is busy though.

We brought Kirk home for a few hours for the first time today. We went to the grocery store first and got some grilled cheese fixings. We came home and made sandwiches. Sidney did piano and Kirk helped with laundry. He can't match socks but that wasn't his strong suit before. If you give him matches he can fold them. It was nice to have him home for a little while but the 'aha!' moment Sidney and I hoped for didn't happen. It didn't seem he recognized any of it. He did really like Stormy.

He seems very content in general. In talking to the staff he is helpful and always pleasant. The most upset he might get is not wanting to get in the car and he just says no. It's easy to redirect him though and with no memory you can just re-direct him 30 seconds later. Many if the other patients can get aggressive and he has shown none of that.