I had not seen Justin for 2 days, I was a little sick yesterday so decided to skip the visits and not risk breathing germs all over him. Therefore I was anxious to get to see him tonight, especially with all the great news that Janie has been reporting lately. I've decided that from now on, my updates will only reflect the opinions and experiences of myself, Mum and Dad as we are seemingly seeing and feeling the same things. Don't get me wrong, I am by no means discrediting anybody else's interpretations of Justin's progress, it's just that with only 1 person at his bedside at a time, it makes it difficult to verify.
In the last couple of days we have seen Justin a lot more awake than he has been previously. This is really encouraging to see, his eyes are wider and more alert, he has more focus, he is tracking movements and even managing a couple of different expressions, a smile, raised eyebrows. His chest infection has pretty much gone, the tube has been removed from his throat and is now being allowed to heal. He still has a slight dry cough but nothing like before, it's also provoking his swallow reflexes which I don't think he was doing before. The thumb wrestling is still going strong but we haven't had a bout quite as good as the first round we had. I've been trying to use the thumb wrestling to provoke YES or NO responses, i.e pushing on the thumb as a YES and simply not doing anything as a NO, but first I needed him to understand that the pushing is a positive. I tried to show him this tonight by smiling and saying YESSSS when he pushed and saying NO when he didn't push. I think with a little more time he'll get it but 30 min is not really sufficient. Surely there's a Cognitive Therapy For Dummies book out there.
Now that his tube is out and the tracheotomy hole is beginning to heal, Justin is able to vocalise a lot more. His attempts to communicate verbally are becoming increasingly more apparent and although still a croak, his voice is becoming louder by the day. As much as myself, Mum and Dad would love to hear him string a three word sentence together or even one comprehensible word, we haven't managed to decipher anything as yet. Obviously with all the talk of Justin "talking" this is becoming very difficult for all 3 of us.
Tonight was my first 30 min session with Justin since Saturday, I was elated to see him looking at me as I approached his bed. I could see his lips moving, it was as if I was about to have a normal conversation with him, obviously I didn't expect that but thats what it felt like. As I got closer I struggled to hear any sound, just a mere whisper, I tried to listen hard and even lip read but just couldn't make out anything. Justin then coughed, cleared his throat and viola, some audible sounds came out. I studied his lips, listened hard but still couldn't get anything. I asked him some simple questions but before long he'd lost his focus and drifted off. The times that he was looking and trying to communicate, he seemed anxious, he obviously has thoughts that he needs to convey but to mine and my parents ears, it's mumbo jumbo at the moment. But, I'll take mumbo jumbo, we all started out by talking bollocks, and some have a habit of spouting it even now.
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