An Honest Recap

So.... after writing up the thing for the lawyers I figured I'd give you all an idea of where Liam is at right now - no sugar coating.

I'm just going to give some recent examples of when we've seen the effects of the stroke that happened almost a year ago.

He was getting ready for baseball and couldn't think of the word "cup" so asked where his "penis protector" was.  It was funny, but sort of sad.  This is aphasia and we are so lucky he was a good vocabulary to help him talk in circles to get his point across.  Sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes I feel like he gives up.  It also makes learning to read difficult.  How can you use picture clues when you sometimes can't name the things in the picture?

He went to baseball, caught a grounder in his mitt (on the left hand) and proceeded to try to throw the ball out of his mitt.  He still has right-side neglect.

We were practicing batting in the yard and he had a hard time holding the bat up with his right arm - the strength is just not what it used to be on that side.

And the most recent, yesterday he got stuck in the bathroom at school.  The door was too heavy for him to open with his right hand and since he was wearing his cast on the left to encourage the use of his right... he couldn't open the door to get out.  His teacher said he called for help and somebody heard him and helped him out.  She then went in and problem solved with him - told him he did a good job calling for help - and together they discussed what else he could do.  (Take off the cast and use two hands.)

So, there you go... that's how Liam's doing - no sugar added.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

Every morning I drop off Quinn on the north side of school and then drive around and drop of Liam.  Quinn loves when I do this and it's something I started a few weeks after Sean was born, but only on the mornings Sean wasn't screaming.  If Sean wasn't happy, then Quinn would have to get out on Liam's side and walk around.  And now that Sean is pretty much always happy, Quinn is thrilled to get a ride around the school.  Anyway...

This morning we dropped off Quinn and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard came on the radio.  Liam asked me to turn it up and if we had time to wait 'til it was over.  And we did have time.  So we did.

Liam - pointing out that the book that the Easter Bunny brought 

him has TWO awards, "the author must be really good!"

This Sucks

We've been working with lawyers to file a claim from the vaccine compensation fund. 

It's been pretty easy up until now. 

The lawyers have asked us to write up a summary of how Liam was before the stroke, immediately following the stroke, and now. 

Mike made some notes for me the other night. 

I just read thru them.

The last line reads, "this sucks."

It sure does.  I'm a very optimistic person and if you were to see me and ask me how Liam was doing I would smile and tell you all the positive progress.  But now we need to be realistic.  I've been putting this off and I think that's not exactly the best thing - I've been thinking about it all too much.  I'm going to just sit down and plow thru this little assignment of ours and be done with it. 

And then, as suggested by my mom, I'm going to make an entire new list of things that are going well.