Slow and Steady Progress

Today was the first time I have seen Scott in a few weeks because I've been out of town.  He has made significant progress since the last time I saw him.  The differences are subtle and I believe not as noticeable to Jen who sees him daily, but to me, they seem huge.

He is much more focused right now.  He is alert, makes clear eye contact, watches intently when you are talking to him and appears very engaged.  This is a difference from just a few weeks ago when it seemed he had the ability to only hold that kind of attention for a few fleeting seconds before becoming distracted by something else.  Today Scott was focused more often than not.

He is responsive in conversation.  His voice is still faint and sometimes difficult to hear but he now engages in conversation.  Today we asked him if he wanted to go sit outside and he replied, "Yeah, that'd be fine."  Scott was not responding so directly the last time I saw him.  Then after sitting outside for about 10 minutes he asked, unprompted, to go back to his room.  When asked if he wanted to listen to one band or another he replied, "Either one of those is fine."  Some of his responses were confused, or perhaps we were just not understanding what he was trying to communicate, but other times (maybe 50% of the time?) he gave direct and appropriate responses to questions.  He even knew his birthday which incidentally is coming up in a few days.

His sense of humor is coming through.  I definitely detected some sarcasm in his smiles and also in some of his comments.  This is a huge difference from the last time I saw him.  Scott's true personality, though obviously there all along, was not so clearly showing through during the last visit with him.

Physically he looks different.  His hair is growing back in now after being shaved multiple times for surgery.  He has also gained some weight back, at least 10 or so pounds since the last time I saw him.  The milkshakes are working!  Unfortunately he is still not interested in eating solid foods.  He is on the feeding tube so he isn't experiencing hunger which is probably a huge factor in his lack of interest in eating.  At some point, probably not until after Scott undergoes his next scheduled surgery to replace his skull bone, they will experiment with turning his feeding tube off to see if it increases the amount of solid food he eats.

Though the changes are not drastic they are there and they are significant.  Scott is making great progress.