Justin update - 24th July 2012

With every day that passes, we're moving further away from the tragic event that got us here and edging closer towards facing the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. It's a scary road and one that none of us were prepared for. We have too many questions, there are so many uncertainties, we can't plan for anything or expect anything and since we're all outside of our country of residence it makes all of these things even harder to bare. Despite all of this, it's amazing what the human spirit can cope with, how we can change, adapt and move forward. Life literally just goes on, it just has to doesn't it.

I'm finding it harder to write daily updates for Justin, simply because there seems to be few significant changes from 1 day to the next. For every 2 good days, we seem to have a bad day, or shall we say less good one. Over the last few days, Justin's blood pressure had risen to a worrying level, it's now down close to normal again but it's unclear as to why this happened. His daily physio sessions are proving to be physically demanding on him, he seems exhausted and just wants to sleep afterwards, this makes it tough to engage him in any other form of interaction. The doctors are trying hard to assess his level of comprehension, I believe it's improving daily in terms of what he is able to understand. He is able to express himself through some movements, nodding or shaking his head, facial movements etc but other than a croaky "Yeah" and "No", I've still seen no evidence that he can talk as yet, although he is trying harder every day. He's not a great talker anyway so I'm not expecting much even when he does. One of the highlights for me is seeing some glimpses of his personality through his facial expressions, it makes my day!

For the past few days I've found myself asking, are we doing enough for Justin? At this stage of his recovery, is there more we should be doing to improve his levels of comprehension? What would stimulate Justin's senses? Is he getting enough physio? What areas should we be focussing on? What about drugs, is he on the right ones? etc etc, I could go on and on. Consultations with his Neurologist do provide some answers but it still doesn't stop me wondering. I feel we need to seize every moment, especially at this crucial time when it seems Justin is yearning for positive interactions. We need to find a balance of what's best for Justin and what he is comfortable with. Pushing him in the direction that he's moving in but not to the point where he begins to withdraw. I guess at the end of the day, in the grand scheme of things, it's still only just over a week since he emerged from his coma and just over 4 weeks since he went into it. So in the words of yet another doctor "It will take some time" I can't tell you how many times I've heard that sentence in the last month.

444:

What's all this 444 fuss I hear you ask? Well in a nutshell, Ever since we were kids Justin has had this mild obsession with the numbers 444. He would see the combination of numbers on a regular basis and would even wake me up at 4:44am to tell me. We were as young as 8 and 10 or something. This continued through his childhood all the way to adult hood. I can't say how often Justin sees this combination of numbers, maybe he's looking for them, maybe he just notices them, maybe he's been setting his alarm at 4:44am everyday since we were kids, who knows, it's his favourite number and who are we to argue. After the accident, a few of his friends were posting 444 pictures and messages on Facebook, someone posted a link to a website for numerology meanings where I discovered that if one is seeing the numbers 444 it suggest that you are surrounded by angels, they are there with you and at times of need one needs to ask them for help. Well, they weren't there when he ploughed into a cow on his scooter 4 weeks ago but it seems somebody came to his aide, maybe they were Justin's angles and maybe they have been with him ever since. Strangely though, I too have been seeing a few 444's lately and there's no way I'm setting my alarm clock at that time in the morning.

Back in the summer of 2009 Justin and a few friends, built a small recording studio and made some music.

Below is a link to one of the tracks they produced. It's a cracking breaks track with a cheeky baseline, some wicked vocals and a funky guitar riff!

The track priced at £2.00+ is being re-released and all proceeds go towards Justin's ongoing rehabilitation. Why not throw in the price of a beer too, Justin would appreciate that.

Please BUY THE TRACK, and share this link far and wide with everyone you know... Let's see how much we can raise!

Click here to download the track.

Rebel Royal & Justin Mason - Backdoor Kicker (fundraiser edit)

DOWNLOAD NOW


C'MON JUSTIN...