Busy Weekend!

Elliot graduated from high school this past weekend and we had family in town, so things were a little too hectic to post anything to the blog. Kevin had another CT scan last Thursday and we met with the neurosurgeon's PA on Friday. Things are still looking good. The small area of subdural bleeding (on the upper left side of the head) is gone completely - no evidence of left over blood, the body has reabsorbed it. On the right side area of impact is where his skull is cracked and where he had epidural bleeding. The PA showed us the CT scan images on his computer and compared them to the CT scan taken the morning after his accident. The old scan shows that there are pockets of air around the fracture and the new scan shows no evidence of air anymore, so that's good. There is still a pool of blood, but it is not new blood - it is changing in characteristic and looks different between the two images so that means that it is breaking down and the body is reabsorbing it as well. He also showed us that the mid-line of the brain is intact, so this pocket of blood isn't putting any undue pressure on the brain, or pushing it aside, which is good. He gave Kevin a few quick gross-motor skill tests and said that he is doing very well and is very stable. He said that Kevin can return to work whenever he feels like he can handle it. Should avoid ANY activity that might cause a bump to the head for 3 months and then, of course, gave Kevin the helmet lecture. We had a small list of questions that he answered and then he said he wanted to see Kevin in a month, with a CT scan done the day before he comes in. Later, the doc office called back and left a message that they changed their minds and want to see Kevin in 2 weeks, not a month. Don't know why.

Kevin continues to improve every day. He sleeps late into the morning, but then seems to stay awake most of the day. Might go lay down for an hour or 2 in the afternoon - and some days doesn't even do that. Went out with friends to do low key things (movies at their apartment) several of these nights and did just fine. Did get a little worn out by the time they brought him home, but no major problems. I still have not noticed any short-term or long-term memory problems nor any cognitive problems. Can still get a little irritated or out of sorts at times, but not very badly. I haven't asked him about his hearing in a few days, if that has completely cleared up or if it's still bothering him a little. He's still having a lot of pain around his shoulders - I don't know if it's the small break in the tip of the clavicle or if it's just because the whole area is tweaked. I'm still waiting for the rehab place to call, maybe he can do some physical therapy for that. He had hurt his right shoulder last year at school in Durango and had never completely felt back to normal from that, so I think this injury compounded the old one. Otherwise, my dad and sister were amazed at how well he is doing - they were expecting a lot worse. He see a doctor next week that specializes in TBI (traumatic brain injury) so we will get a lot greater insight into what he can do to heal completely and what we can expect in the coming year. She'll be the one to guide him through evaluations and rehab if he nees it.