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You da man! |
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Dear all,
Plateau, nothing!
Last evening, starting right about 5:00 p.m., my little boy Karl started to vocalize. Cousin Kris had gotten to the hospital and given me Else, and the blue-eyed Maedchen and I went on an hour and a half walk. Soon after, however, Karl became restless, and his heart rate went up to 150-160. Kris suggested that they put him on her lap. It went down a bit, but the whole while, Karl was making guttural noises, and Kris had the feeling that he was trying to speak (therefore the high heart rate). When I returned, they decided to put Karl back in the bed, and see if that calmed him.
Then the action really began.
First, before Kris and Else buzzed home, I brought the little girl over to see Karl, just to the foot of the bed, because of her cold. Else was so excited to see Karl that her arms and legs flailed all about. And Karl, well, his eyes locked on hers, and his arms moved up and down too. It was glorious.
Then, as I sat beside him to feed him his supper, he was indeed trying to express himself. There were no clear sounds, but there were clear attempts--new mouth and tongue movements, and very perceptible noises emanating from his throat. The staff was amazed, and gathered around to see him do his thing.
Then, one of the nurses mentioned in a "by-the-way" fashion that around 6:00 p.m. while I was out of the room to get a bottle of water, Karl had raised his right arm and left arm on command (which is more than his mother can do, and a skill of his I was envious of even before the accident). I tested it out. "Karl, can you raise your right hand?" Up it went. "Karl, can you raise your left hand?" Up it shot.
Then, as his afternoon nurse left, I said, "Karl, there she goes! You can wave if you would like!" And his arm went up.
And, as if that were not enough, Karl is beginning to try to smile.
I was beside myself.
The nurses thought that I was berserk, because after all of this newness in a matter of two hours, I stood on his bed, leaned down, and cried out, "Karl, you da man!"
That's hard to translate into German.
So we called his Uncle Jon in Anchorage, who is also da man, and who loves Karl very much, and whom Karl loves intensely. This is their greeting, their "thing." Jon answered the phone, and I said, "Uncle Jon, Karl is da man!!!" I told him the story, and then held up the phone for Karl to hear the truth from his very own uncle. Karl's eyes grew big, and he leaned in to listen. He tried to talk, but mostly just listened to Jon's voice. Then I told my sister Else the story, and she got to talk to Karl too. Same thing. Karl was intent on her voice.
People, please keep those prayers coming. God is also intent on our voices, God is also leaning in to hear.
I have renewed hope now--of course, yesterday I also had hope, but I needed a bit of a "hope fix." I got it, and can't wait to see what today will bring.
Peace to you all.
Anna
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