First Word

Scott has been at the South San Francisco Kaiser Hospital since Friday night.  He has a private room with a designated "sitter" and, because the hospital is not as busy as SF General or the Neuro Care Unit at Redwood City, he has received individualized care.  He has participated in physical therapy daily (because they are able to come when he is awake, rather than on a rigid rotation schedule) and he has also received speech therapy.  Scott is trying to talk but no real sound comes out.  This is partly because he has not had any food or drink or any use of his throat muscles since the accident.  On Saturday Scott passed the "swallow test" which means he is now able to swallow it is safe to give him things like ice chips and sherbet and to start to reintroduce pureed solid foods.  These sensations will make him use those muscles again and will hopefully assist in vocalization.  It seems to be working already as today he said his first word - JUICE!

Scott continues to progress physically and is sitting up for brief periods of time in bed with assistance.  He is also awake for longer and longer between rest periods.  Jen is still struggling to prevent medical staff from sedating him.  She has succeeded in getting a doctor's order stating that he should only be sedated if necessary but that standard is pretty ambiguous.  Despite this direction, in an effort to help him sleep or make him comfortable, Jen is finding that staff still sedate him frequently.  Unfortunately, the sedatives throw off his sleep and wake cycles and make it very difficult for him to get the therapy he needs during the daytime.  Eventually, when Scott becomes cognizant and can speak and advocate for himself, this will not be an issue.  Until then, Jen will continue to be very vocal and demand that they stop sedating him.

Despite the great care he has received at the hospital, it is time for him to move down a level of care to a skilled nursing facility.  Doctors are planning to transfer Scott tomorrow to a facility in San Leandro.  Medical staff have assured Jen and Kay that the facility in San Leandro is better able to receive Scott and manage his level of care then the facility he was originally transferred to last week.  We shall see if in fact that is true, but for now we remain optimistic.  There is greater access to rehabilitation therapies in the nursing facility.  So, ultimately it will be a very positive move for Scott even though it means he will be further away.