Update #33

More great Nick news!

They had an appointment with the rehab doctor today and he was so impressed with Nick's progress, he’s bringing Nick back to the hospital for full time rehab starting Monday! So he'll live there full time for a few weeks, and then he’ll be allowed occasional home visits. This rehab program will probably last about three months.

The doc really wants to capitalize on Nick's growing control and strength. While his development has been in big leaps the last couple of weeks, it will most likely be more gradual now.

Here's a summary on Nick's progress since the last update:

• they can see his strength returning, as he continues to roll around on his mats and doing some leg lifts and getting into a sort of push up position
• he can better control his limb movement
• his speech is getting clearer
• he's eating more and more soft foods (soup, jello, ice cream, etc.) and is gaining weight
• he's developed a great, dry sense of humor - this has been so encouraging to the family!
• while he has some good mid- and long-term memory (like friend's phone numbers), he struggles with short-term (for instance, a little while after their appointment today, they asked how he thought it went and he answered, "What appointment?")

Since he can communicate so well, he's been asking what happened to him. He wants to know if he'll ever be normal again. So they've been able to process this tragedy with him.

Believing in miracles...praying for "normal"