Three Weeks

Three weeks ago right now I got an email from Fred at work with a quick by the way update letting me know what time he would be home from work. He did not mention in his email he was heading out on a bike ride. He doesn't remember even leaving work to go on his bike ride, but I'm assuming he sent that email and went and changed and got on his bike. Obviously everything changed about an hour later, but here we are three weeks later. It is a little strange being home today, trying to have a regular day and not think about that afternoon phone call I got from the ER.

I thought I would try and explain better where Fred is at today, three weeks later. He is walking, talking, reading, writing and carrying on normal conversations. He remembers everyone and can go through the exact steps of how to tend to a newborn as an EMT in an emergency situation (one therapist had him go over this). There are definitely points in the day where he seems completely normal and ready to bring him home, but there are also times that you know his brain still needs time to heal. It is especially hard on me that the part of his brain that was injured is the part that would understand he is still not 100% and he doesn't see when something is difficult for him. I'm glad I am getting a break because as his wife, he's trying to get me on his side to check him out of there, and there's only so many times a day I can have that conversation with him.

He struggles with short term memory loss at times, but for the most part these days he can recall what happened the day before. His response time slows down throughout the day if he is tired or the situation is getting more complicated. The therapists are working with him on things like reading and answering questions while there are conversations going on around him.

Since Fred doesn't think he is injured at all, he doesn't notice when his balance makes him drift off to the right while he is walking. He thinks he could run 3 miles if he had to right now and pass all the field sobriety tests a cop would give a suspected drunk driver (Tom had him try and walk a straight line, and he couldn't do it).

On a normal day, Fred has never been a highly emotive person. Unless he is mad or worked up, he normally talks quietly, but he seems quieter to me. The part of his brain that was injured can make a person seem flat, and even though he seems subdued, he gets excited to see Kalyn and does show some emotion.

I feel like I am betraying Fred by putting this kind of information up there, but I also realize I have left out these kind of details, so people are now confused as to what he can do. He'll probably be mad at me if he ever reads this whole blog someday...