Monday May 19, 2104

Monday Morning Greetings,

It has been a week now that we have been at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, MN with our son Jacob. The transition from El Paso, TX to Bethesda Hospital in ST Paul, MN was the best possible move for Jacob's medical care and future needs. He is safe, he is protected, and he is treated by such a compassionate, caring and professional nursing and doctoral staff. WE ARE HAPPY!

Jake is still working on the Coma Stim routine where when resting in bed, lights are turned down low with limited stimulation and conversations are quiet to keep him comfortable. And then he is up three times per day for up to 2 hours at a time in a comfortable padded PT chair to maintain alertness, with bright light, TV on with audio, and some interactive conversation with family. He is adjusting well and this type of activity will allow him to fully wake him up from the somewhat coma state he is still in. At times he is very alert but does become tired quite quickly. His brain is healing slowly, rebuilding reconnections to relearn speech, physical movement and interaction and recognition with family members. It will take time.

Over the weekend, Heather - Jake's wife - along with her mother Pam came up to see and visit with Jake. Our two sons, Ryan and Darin (Jake's two older brothers) also came to visit on Sunday, and Jake had great and positive interactions with them. Jake had a few tears stream down from his face when they sat down and visited with him. We know that he knows what is going on around him - we know he knows who his family is and he is hearing and seeing very well by his responses and interaction with us. Reponses are delayed, but we need to talk slowly and softly so he can process the information to interact with us. Again, time will aid in the progress of the healing of his brain and memory. We do know that Jake will suffer from some long and short term memory loss, and when frustration sets in we will be here to assist him with these frustrations and episodes of confusion, and help him rebuild old and new memories.

We are told later this week that Jacob will be moved to the 4th floor of the hospital - this is where the TBI specialty floor is to focus on healing and rebuilding his brain in new areas where he has damaged portions that can not be rebuilt. We are excited for this next step in his healing plan. They are also working on the continued downsizing of his trachea tube and hope to get that removed by this week hopefully. Jake is beginning to make some moaning and groaning sounds through his talk box which is capped on his trachea tube. As of yesterday in the afternoon - it appeared as if he was trying to form some words with his lips, but it was a struggle - but he tried his best to interact with his brothers. Great progress for Jake and a strong sense of hope for his parents and family members.

Thanks once again to all of you for following along on Jake's rehabilitation journey with us. We have greatly appreciated all of your positive thoughts through this Post Hope page, greeting cards and comfort gifts to assist in the well being of the healing for the whole family. We appreciate your support and kindness and can not express enough the gratitude of thankfulness we have toward each and every one of you! THANK YOU!  

Jeff, Jake's dad, is joining me later today in St. Paul, MN. It has been almost one month since I have seen my husband, as he made sure Jake was safely air lifted out of El Paso, TX and I intercepted Jake's arrival in St. Paul, MN. Jeff made sure all of Jake's personal matters were closed out which took several days, made his final farewells to our new adopted son of Sgt. Steven Harris - one of Jake's best friends and Jake's "boss" in the US Army. We owe so much to this brilliant young man - he greatly assisted our efforts while in El Paso, he was our communication liaison between the US Army and the Trauma Hospital, he provided emotional support to our family, and he guided us with the paperwork process to assist Jake's immediate and long term medical needs. He is an amazing and intelligent young man and I can not wait for the day he can come visit us in Minnesota and spend time with our family while continuing his brother bonding relationship with Jake. I am so honored to call Steven Harris one of our sons - we are so thankful that he is part of our family for the long haul!