Big Day! Justine’s been asking if its “tomorrow yet” for the past two weeks. The day that Maki comes home.IMG_3358

Both of them noticed that the other had grown taller. I forgot to check his height against mine at the airport, and as soon as we got to the house, he was off to the hills with his friends in anticipation of a late night meteor shower.  Having fun and staying up late sounds like a brilliant way to take that jet lag by the horns.

We did stop by Mesa Verde on the way home. Earlier, our friend Sandy had updated me on Vernon’s morning at the Dialysis Center. He was wide awake but he hadn’t allowed the technicians to plug him in. When Sandy arrived, she was able to settle him down with the promise that afterward, he would be able to see Maki. Apparently this was a good deal for him as he obliged.  He brought his name up throughout the morning and the technicians (and Sandy) used this as a connecting point. Vernon always appreciates his care more when people treat him like a person with his own interests and life, not just a patient or part of a bleak medical system. He appreciates this so much, even though he doesn’t remember anything about his own life correctly.

He was very talkative this afternoon, even if half of what he said didn’t make sense. He does make sense when we create a conversation around him. But he is so suggestible still that one never knows how much he understands what he is saying. And his vocabulary is immense…the words are just scrambled. But he’s talking a lot more…a very good thing in my book!

Now looking at this video, I see I got lost too…I wasn’t very helpful there.  Oh well, that’s how it is sometimes. We just try to work out what he is saying till something clicks. For all we know, he is struggling to understand us too. Names are the hardest.

One amusing thing is that his Britishness is all mixed up.  He doesn’t have the filters that he once had when it comes to words, so he says exactly what he thinks (even if the words get jumbled on the way out.) If he thinks something is boring, he’ll say so. If he doesn’t trust someone in that moment, they’ll hear it. If he’s in pain, he’ll scream. Conversely, if he likes something (a song, a sip of apple juice) he’ll gush about it: “That’s AMAZING, it’s GORGEOUS!” But the British thing that is most deeply ingrained in him, even that a severe traumatic brain injury couldn’t erase, are his good manners when it comes to “please and thank you.” In this way, along with his accent, he still manages to charm his attendants and acquaintances.

You still got it, Vernon.

 

 

 

 

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