Monday morning

Matt had a pretty good weekend - he's fighting headaches again and taking more medication which makes him unhappy. We're trying to stay on top of it before it gets unbearable, but he doesn't show discomfort too easily, and anytime a nurse checks with him he always says he's 'perfect.' I think it is body aches, as well, since he's moving so much more, but he just can't articulate the difference.

His PT left us with the stand up walker this weekend (pictured in last Monday's post) so he could stay in shape. Matt seemed a little nervous about having just me help him use the quad cane, so this walker is much more stable. The cane is helping him more with balance while engaging his leg muscles, but with the walker he can really cruise the hallways. His gate is much more fluid and natural since the wheels allow the walker to move with him.

We've noticed recently that Matt wants to tell us more and he is quite frustrated by his limited ability to communicate. We used to be able to guess what he's trying to tell us because it was pretty basic - something to eat, drink, a blanket, etc. Now he wants to bring up new subjects or discuss things in more detail. In therapy, he's been able to recall more and come up with words easier, but its going to be awhile before he can really communicate as well as he wants.

We're heading up to Dartmouth tomorrow morning for a CT scan and appointment with his surgeon, during which we will hopefully schedule the surgery to have Matt's skull flap put back. Here's hoping that everything is stabilized and he can have surgery soon! We've heard that once they've had that surgery, patients' rehab really takes off, so at the rate Matt's going already, he should be flying out of here soon.