Braeden Update: June 10, 2019

He’s is healing, no longer has headaches, was able to participate in his choir concert this past weekend (which was very important to him), and attended his youth group. We’ve gone out a couple times with friends, gone to a few graduation celebrations of friends, though his endurance for those is much lower than before the accident. In many ways, he looks and acts like the accident never happened.
 
On the down side: school is exhausting. He’s been able to go for a few hours a couple of days a week. He still struggles with dizziness and balance at times. Long walks are very hard. His biggest challenge right now, though, is dealing with all the limitations. Another challenge is focus. There have been several times where he’s been given some direction, which vanishes from his memory as soon as it’s done. Oddly, he remembers getting the direction, but the details escape. Part of healing the brain is mandated boredom, otherwise known as limited computer time. As a modern teen, the screen time limitations are driving him crazy. That will become easier in a few weeks once school ends and his friends are available to hang-out…curing the boredom. To add to that, taekwondo and driving are off limits until we’re given doctor’s clearance. We are deeply grateful to his grandparents who have stepped up so Sheri and I can return to work, and he doesn’t go crazy.
 
The next few weeks bring a bunch of evaluations with various specialists at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital: neurologist, speech and language specialists, and traumatic brain injury specialists. By the end of the month we expect to have a solid idea of our recovery plan and those details. Just in time for summer vacation.
 
We want to thank you for all the prayers, the kind words, visits from friends the gifts of meals. These mean the world to us and have this challenging time much easier to bear.