Weekend visit with Curtis 7/21/08

I just arrived home from a three-day weekend in Los Angeles, and I had a great time visiting with Curtis and the family. Curtis is becoming more and more interactive! I was standing by his bed telling Elaine about how, when we were kids, Curtis would aggravate me by raising his eyebrows up and down at me. (I don't know why this bothered me back then, but I was a kid and it just did.) I called it "making eyebrows" and I always told him to stop "making eyebrows"! So Saturday when I was standing there telling this story, I said to Curtis, "how about now, Curtis, can you 'make eyebrows' at me?" And he raised his left eyebrow at me :)

The most fun for me was realizing that my brother's wonderful sense of humor is still INTACT! He cracked us up several times as he so quietly sat there in the conversation, listening to us chat around him, and then interjecting his agreements by pointing his finger (this is his way of communicating "yes".) In one case, Elaine, Karen and I were sitting by Curt talking about girl stuff, like purses and shoes and how moody women can get. (Curtis is quiet during this time and his eyes are closed as they are still most of the time.) Elaine says, "Not me! I'm never moody!" And out of the blue, Curtis points his index finger. So Elaine says..."you think I'm moody?!" And Curtis points again! (By the way, all you guys out there, Curt probably would love to have more male visitors after all the girl-talk we've put him through lately!)

In this visit I have seen Curtis interact alot with us, mostly by pointing his finger, squeezing our hands alot, and also smiling. His 'smile' is only a partial squint from the left eye as he squeezes up his cheek a bit, but we can tell this is his smile. He will do this for us when something is funny to him or we are talking to him about something he likes. It is so awesome!

Yesterday and today Curt had a couple of times where he opened his eyes up wide for us. Elaine showed him pictures she had in her purse of him and her, some of our family, and his friends Tim and Nelson. As we showed him these he would respond by squeezing our hands. We'd ask, "do you remember that?" and he would raise his index finger! Today, I showed him a card he received from Kathy Moss. He looked at the card I showed him, and then watched me so intently as I read him the message she had written. It was so apparent to me that he was seeing and hearing me! When his eyes are open, he can make eye contact with the person speaking to him, his eyes can follow to the picture and back the person speaking. He even continued to watch Elaine as she walked to the foot of the bed and back. These things are really encouraging for me especially since it has been only 4 weeks since the accident.

Twice we have been able to take Curtis outside! The nurses will put Curtis in the geri chair which is a reclining, rollable chair, and we wheel him downstairs and out into the courtyard. It is so nice to have him out in the fresh air and sunshine, and Curtis says he really likes it.

There are so many more instances I could tell you all about where Curt is interacting, but I realize this post is already long :) So just know that even though Curtis still is unconscious, he seems to be gradually awakening and all these times are so precious to us!

If any of you have been wanting to visit Curtis or have been thinking about it, the family would love for you to come. I know Curtis would enjoy having more visitors. Plus the interaction is so good for him. Visiting hours are every day from 10am to 8pm. We usually talk to Curtis, read to him, play him music, show him pictures. So if you want to bring a picture or two, hopefully when you are by if his eyes are open he can take a look! For you musical friends of his, he'd love to hear a guitar strumming or you singing...and we'd enjoy that, too :)

Love to all,
Renee