WOW WOW WOW!!!

I was in awe and stood in amazement in my visit with Keith today.  Keith had me, Jenny and Darren rolling in laughter.  Keith is animated and has made tremendous improvement.  I am not sure where to begin and will probably leave a few things out, but let me share TODAY with you…

 

Keith was able to walk with a walker today and did well.  When Jenny asked Keith if he was showing off, he said that he was.  Off from work, Jenny was able to be present during Keith’s therapy (walking, etc.) today.  Not only was he able to walk, but he was able to read and repeat numbers.  Yesterday he had Darren’s cell phone and read the text message or missed call to Darren.  Amazing!

 

When I first arrived early in the afternoon, Keith was sleeping.  He woke up for less than a minute and then went back into a healthy “snoring” nap for about 20-minutes or so.  When Keith woke up, he was really animated.  He commented about coming back to work and was answering all my questions.  Jenny said he wanted Keith to get better by September so they could watch football together.  Knowing Keith is a Raider fan, I mentioned rooting on the Chargers and Keith responded saying “Forget the Chargers” with a smile on his face.  Jenny asked Keith who HIS team was and Keith said “Raiders”.  Jenny asked him who HER team was and he said “Chickens”.  Jenny laughed and said “Dolphins” at which team Keith smiled and said “Dolphins”.  I told him about his Dodgers and Manny Ramirez and he responded with either “really” or “wow” or something like that (I can’t remember because we were talking about so many different things).  I mentioned our trips to “Curley’s” (a local burger joint in Long Beach that we frequent) and told him how a few of us finally ate at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach.  He smiled, acknowledged and commented on everything I talked to him about.  When I pulled his blanket down to uncover his hands, he grabbed the blanket to cover himself back up while smiling and yelling “Hey” and something like “what are you doing?”  I told him he was really snoring loud and when I said that I am sure Jenny snores too, Keith said that she does but not like he does…and said “I’m being honest”.  When I told him I had a meeting to get to, he asked me “what meeting” and “what time”.  I looked at my pager that had just gone off and told him that I am sure he doesn’t miss having his pager right now.  He took a hold of my pager and started to scroll through or “read” the pages and then handed the pager back to me.  THIS MAY ALL SOUND a bit boring, but just to see Keith react and talk and smile and just witnessing his sense of humor was very touching.  Keith has really come a long way!

 

Keith did complain that his head was hurting and I explained that they gave him pain medication in his I.V. while he was sleeping.  He asked if they gave him something to sleep and I explained NO, just medication for your headache.  Keith was high fiving, smiling, teasing Jenny, and was in great spirits.  He fingered Darren to get closer to him and told him several times to “get closer” and then pointed to his cheek at which time Darren asked if he wanted a kiss and then kissed Keith on the cheek.  Keith smiled and said that he was waiting for that all day and then basically told Darren he was “dumb” for doing it.  We all busted out laughing.

 

I know that I probably missed a lot of what happened today, but today was truly amazing.  Here is what I do know.  KEITH IS PROGRESSING NICELY!  Darren and I both had a tear in our eye as we talked about that first night when we didn’t know if Keith would make it to where he is today.  We thank GOD for his blessing in Keith’s life and the healing we continue to see!  OH YEAH, Keith ate applesauce (he knew what it was and what it tasted like) and drank orange juice today.  He can breathe on his own, walk, talk, eat, taste, swallow AND has a sense of humor.  He is still healing and may have some deficits we are not aware of yet, but so far God has provided wonderful healing! 

 

Please don’t forget to continue to pray for many more days of great news and for few to no roadblocks in Keith’s recovery.  We know there are many hurdles to still overcome but we are thankful for what we are seeing up to this point!

 

Look for more good news in future blogs!