Today was a pretty good day for us. When Ava, Hunter and I arrived at the hospital Eric was coming around the corner in the wheelchair with his sweet nurse, Lisa. She said he was ready to go outside. He looked right at Hunter and Ava and shook their hands. We walked around outside for a bit. Back inside, Eric did a few great things. 1) He ate and swallowed about 5 ice chips without coughing, 2) waved “Hi” to his nurse when she said hello, 3) and when the trauma nurse asked how he was doing he SAID (yes, apparently he spoke) “FINE”. They were very pleased with his progress today and so were we.
The other cool thing that happened was when Ava drew shapes on sheets of paper and we asked Eric to point to the different shaped/colors, he did it right 3 times! Nice!
After we returned from lunch we were told that OT and PT had been there to work with Eric, he did pretty good but got tired. Apparently he was up most of the night before so no wonder he was tired. While Eric slept, we spent rest of the afternoon talking with the nurses and learning about all the medication Eric is taking, wow!
All in all we had a good day, even if part of Eric was sleeping. We were happy to give Anna-Carin some time to herself, even if that meant cleaning the garage! We’re back with Eric tomorrow and hopefully more strides forward in the recovery process.
Eric & Anna-Carin Davidson 
To the Davidson Family;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a person’s faith;
It’s all in the state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster hand;
They go to the one who trusts in Life
And always thinks “I can..
With patience and love your all doing great with Eric as a family. Keep it up Eric and stay strong Anna-Carin. Alway think i can!
By: The Cabral Family on August 11, 2008
at 5:11 am
Well Ace, I start today at Vibra. I’ll be shadowing for this week before my honeymoon so I don’t know how much I’ll get to work with Eric but at least I get to visit him.
By: greg and robin on August 11, 2008
at 7:38 am
Thank you for sharing this journey…
My sister sustained hypoxia-induced brain injury at the age of 40. She too was in a coma, couldn’t recognize immediate family, and had to learn to walk and talk again, over many months. I am happy to say that 4 years later, she has proven the doctors wrong. The level of recovery is absolutely amazing, and she is close to her “old self” although she sustains vision and memory loss, which are most likely permanent (and specific to the parts of her brain that were injured). The brain is much more “plastic” and able to heal or reroute functions than thought possible.
So – hang in there, Eric’s rate of recovery is very similar to hers. One thing I noticed about my sister is that one of her greatest traits is “stubbornness”, an epithet often applied to Eric in these postings. Some of that is due to the brain trauma, in our observation, and it is also one of the greatest sources of recovery – because the injured person simply does not give up. However, brain trauma does require a ton of rest to heal. Some of what may look like down time or checking out or plateaus can also be a gathering of resources and energy to make the next step, which may look small to others, but requires superhuman strength from Eric. It requires unbelievable faith and patience on the part of the caregivers/lovedones. You know! From what I can see (though I’m not a western medical person) you can expect Eric to continue to change and grow for many years. It takes TIME and rest, and the kind of caring stimulation he seems to be getting. One other note – my sister took a long time to be able to “feel” again, so don’t be discouraged if it takes time for Eric to relate to others on an emotional level. It’s in there, but is not as high on the survival scale as being able to eat, move, and communicate essentials first. My thoughts and love are with you on this journey.
By: laine on August 11, 2008
at 11:00 am