Brian's Update for Tuesday, April 10th, Day 56

Good morning all,
I ran by Frazier's this morning to drop off a few things that Jana needed and took the opportunity to talk to Brian's physical therapist, Chris. The updated plan calls for Brian to go home by no later than April 30th. That is wonderful news. What I wanted to know was, do we need to do anything either inside or outside their home to accomodate Brian in the short term. He mentioned only two things. We will need to put up a handrail on the left side of the steps going up to the deck that leads to their entry door and we may need to put a seat in the tub for him. Other than that, nothing else is expected. Of course we are still a little less than 3 weeks from there and the closer we get to his departure the better picture we will have. Chris did say that Brian would require 24 hour supervision in the short term. None of these issues come as a surprise. It is exciting to anticipate his going home! God has been so merciful and generous.

I had another question I wanted answered. "Is Brian having physical therapy due to continuing neurological issues or has his brain and nerve pathways healed and now he is just helping muscles remember how to work from their long inactivity?" Brian still has neurological issues. His brain is having to replumb the nerve pathways that tell which muscle to do what. Imagine that you bought an old house and the electrical panel has no labels on it to tell you which circuit controls which outlet or light. Brian's brain is doing what the creator designed it to do in circumstances like this. It is re-wiring itself. It is the most incredible thing to witness. What we know about the human brain has been completely rewritten in my life time. At one point it was scientific law that stated that the brain is a fixed machine with fixed pathways to control fixed parts of our bodies. If you break that pathway then you have lost the use of that limb. We now know that the brain is extremely adept at replumbing itself to reconnect each limb with a working part of the brain. If you would like to read more about this you might pick up the book I found recently, "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain," by Sharon Begley. It documents the groundbreaking discoveries in "neuroplasticity."
Brian had a CT scan this morning and gets a spinal xray later today. Then they take these to University Hospital Thursday for an evaluation. I will post more later today.
Please continue to pray for Brian's will and determination and energy. His level of recovery now is pretty much up to him. With hard work we believe that Brian will be able to achieve a 110% recovery. I say 110% because he is learning how to use his left arm and hand in ways he never would have before. He will be ambidextrous when this is all over (able to use both hands interchangeably).

We are so wonderfully grateful!
Bob