Busted

Yesterday was Cole's day off from therapy and school so it was a good time for him to visit with some friends and relatives. Garret, Steiler, Krista, Nana, Elizabeth, Sheree and I were all there. Although Grant couldn't be there because he was watching the WORCS off road motorcycle race in Lake Havasu, he and others were definitely there is spirit as they wore their new "Cole's The Man" t-shirts  to show support for Cole at the race.

Since there were so many visitors and only 2 are allowed in Cole's room at a time, Cole met everyone in the HBO cafe where we all had burgers, fries and milk shakes from FATBURGER in Hollywood. Yum yum!!

Cole showed off by walking unassisted about 30 feet to hug Garret, Steiler and Krista when they arrived. Everyone was amazed at how well he did. Later, after wolfing down the grub and conspiring to get all of us past security and up to Cole's room, we all met at he rally point (the quad area outside Cole's room) to continue the visit. It was there that Cole showed of his basketball skills while shooting some hoops with Garret and Steiler. Visiting in the quad area was short lived though. We got busted by nurse for having too many visitors and were remanded back to the lobby for the remainder of the visit.

Tom and Rhonda said Cole did really well this week in therapy and school and is still steadily improving. Therapy and school included walking on the treadmill, riding the tricycle, playing different card games, reading, writing, math and even washing windows. The window washing allows Cole to exercise his hands and arms and also helps the hospital get some spring cleaning done. It's like the "wax on, wax off" theory from the movie Karate Kid.

Probably the biggest improvement this past week is that Cole uses his right hand a lot more and walks a lot better and with more confidence. Rhonda noticed that his right hand is returning as his dominate hand. Although closely supervised, when Cole walked the 30 or so feet in the cafe, he did it totally on his own and with no support which is a huge improvement. Cole's speech is also improving. Although speech is often the last thing to return in brain injuries, Cole steadily improves as he seems to be a little more engaged in conversations and can respond with more than just a yes or no answer.

The thing that's both funny and interesting is that since Cole has some memory loss, he sometimes doesn't remember which foods he likes or dislikes. In those cases, he asks his parents if he likes or dislikes a certain food. Cole is a big time sushi lover so Tom tries to take advantage of the situation by trying to convince Cole that he doesn't like the expensive Japanese dish. Apparently Cole's memory isn't as bad as Tom thought because so far he hasn't convinced Cole that he doesn't like sushi.

Tom and Rhonda and the rest of their family wish to thank everyone for their continued support, thoughts and prayers. They have been a constant source of inspiration, comfort and motivation which has helped them tremendously.

Treadmill

Eating using right hand

HBO Cafe

HBO Cafe

Walking HBO Cafe

HBO Cafe

HBO Cafe

Conspiring to get past security

Remanded to main lobby

Main Lobby

HBO Cafe

Shooting hoops

More hoops

Quad prior to getting busted

Quad

Quad

Hoops