James was busy today too,  making me blog again.  Today when I was reading to him I noticed that his eyes looked like they were following words.  He had speech therapy today so I mentioned it to her.  She had a little dry erase board with her and wrote "close your eyes" on it.  She showed him and asked him to do what it said on the board.  He did!  It's funny,  all the things that he has been doing lately,  and that is the one that made me cry!  We went with the activities group today for a walk in the garden today too.  It was beautiful and warm and the flowers blooming were lovely.  When I got home this afternoon,  I could see that part of my front yard was mowed and could hear a mower around the side of the house.  My wonderful neighbour was mowing my lawn!  Mark will be happy as that was on his honey do list for this weekend!  And that list is getting pretty long!

When I went into James room this morning I noticed that his tube feed was stopped and was only about 2/3 through.  I asked the nurse and she said,  "well.....let me tell you why!"  They started his breakfast at the normal time and peeked in on him shortly after,  all was well,  and they continued on.  Shortly after that one of the care aides just had a gut feeling that she should check on him.  He was on the floor!  There is some debate as to whether he slithered out between the rails or went over the rails.  General thought seems to be that he may have gone over the rail!  He is fine though,  and just after they found him he was laughing.  He had a quick x ray to make sure that he didnt dislodge his feeling tube.  He seems no worse for the wear.  The nurses and care aides though....are all in need of some sedation now!  Thankfully his bed was as low as it goes,  and now he has big foam wedges in the sides of his rails to hopefully stop any more escape plans!  I was bugging the physiotherapist this morning.  I told him, "One day you show a guy he can walk and the next morning he is crawling out of bed!"   He said "Hey I showed him how to walk not how to jump out of bed!"  Lol.  What a day!  He may be getting a bed alarm tonight too. 

James had an exciting physio session yesterday!  He got to use the walking sling for the first time and took his first half a dozen steps since the accident!  The physio team here is amazing!  They are working with James for about an hour 5 days a week.  I am hoping for more of the walking sling today.  I was telling James that I think I already see some muscle coming back in his legs after just one week of physio!  Speech and Language came and assessed James yesterday too.  She will come back again on Friday.  She worked on figuring out a system for yes and no,  and helping him force sounds out when he wants.  She took a look at his swallow reflex too,  and said that he is trying and can swallow but it is still a little early to do swallow test because his swallowing is still a bit delayed and inconsistant.  She seemed to think that it wouldnt be long before he would be ready for the rehab in Alberta.  She talked about some amazing work that they just did with a Campbell River Client of hers a year ago.
Found out a few days ago that James car is being used by the PARTY program at the hospital here.  I am upset that it is known by the youth involved that it is his car and they are then assuming that drugs or alcohol were involved (which they definitely were not!) .  I also have not seen the car an dont want to, and am very anxiety ridden over coming across it at the hospital.  Well yesterday I heard them paging the head of the PARTY program over the PA at the hospital and told the nurses about the car,  they looked outside for me and it may have been his car being used.  The Social worker went and spoke to the lady who heads the program, and she says that she cant guarantee that it wont be there again next time as she is not in charge of the vehicle used.  It sounds like the social worker will look into who is involved in what vehicle is used and try to ensure that it doesnt come back.  What a day!  From a super high with James' first steps to high anxiety and fear of leaving the building with his car being there!

James has been on the new floor for a few days now.  He got a new wheelchair that fits much better,  and the PICC line came out before he moved floors.  That was a little too exciting for my likes though.  When they pulled the line out, the end looked like it had been sliced.  The PICC lines that they are used to seeing here have a black tip on the end.  So they were concerned that there was a peice still in him!  They got a stretcher and put him on his left side and a torneque on his arm,  and were talking about a CT scan and possibly being rushed to Victoria for emergency surgery!  Until,  one of the head nurses came in and said,  Oh,  I am 99.9% sure that that is a power PICC and that is the way the end looks.  She ended up calling Pennsylvania to the manufactorer to clarify.  And sure enough,  it was all a false alarm!  James'  nurse looked as frazzled as I did!  She joked that we all needed a wee sedative now!  The rest of the move went much more smoothly!  I was hoping that his bed would move with him,  but we were told that he would have to have a bed from that floor.  I am not liking his new bed as it is much shorter and if he slides down it at all,  his feet are pushed up against the bottom. 
The planning meeting went well.  General feeling from the staff was that we need to find him some rehab!  On Thursday when Physio worked with James to was trying to get James to lift his head up (The muscles in James'  neck are working overtime and pulling his head to the right and down)  He asked James to pull his head up and show us how tall he is,  James stood up!  So the rest of the session consisted of asking James to stand and sit.  Physio worked with him again on Friday.  He helped James roll out of bed to a sitting position ( James was not happy about this and I actually saw some good anger going on!)  He got James sitting on the edge of the bed and asked him to stand up.  ( He did) .  They helped him use his hands prop and balance himself and eventually had him balancing himself in a sitting position.  I have noticed that since the physio sessions he is starting to use him hand more.  He will occasionally bring them to his face on lift them up a little. 
After the doctor did some asking about rehab options he told me that his consult in Nanaimo told him that the only rehab that would fit James is in Ponoka Alberta.  We are still exploring the options.  I think that the only real barrier to rehab right now is expressive language.  He still hasnt spoken since the accident and most rehab will not take non verbal clients.  We will have to see how that progresses.  Just because he isnt talking right now,  doesnt mean he wont. 
I am going to try sleeping at the hospital tonight.  So far two mornings in a row,  I have arrived to a drenched boy,  with a soaked brief and bed,  despirate to use the urinal.  Hopefully i can sort things out quickly in that department,  because I know that I wont last without sleep for more than a night or two.

James is probably moving to another floor in the next day or two.  We are having a planninng meeting at the hospital on Thursday and hopefully he will be able to start some rehab components on his new floor.  He will be getting his central line (PICC line) removed in the next couple of days too.  The only tube left is his feeding line. The specialist that James needs to see are all in Victoria,  so in some ways I am regretting transferring to Comox,  but it has been nice to touch base at home and the staff at the Comox hospital are lovely.  They have yet to find him a wheelchair that fits him though.  The one that they had a very short and narrow back and he was super uncomfortable in it.  It is also held together with electrical tape in places and has quite a wobble.  He is sitting up in a recliner during the day, right now,  which is better than staying in bed,  but he cant sit up straight in it and work his core muscles.  James had a great physio session yesterday!  They decided to find out if he had the core strength to hold himself sitting.  It went much better than expected!  It took a while to get his head up.  He has major muscle contractures that pull his chin to his chest.  Physio was able to work him up to a chin up position though and he looked great!  He cant balance himself in that position but he can hold his hips and shoulders fine! James has also started to ask to use the bedside urinal this week!  He crosses his legs to let us know he needs to urinate!
 I thought life would be simpler being home,  not true!  I have less time and feel more stretched than ever.  I only spend a couple of hours a day at home,  and I sleep at home.  When I am home I am cleaning,  doing laundry,  etc. 

Last night James was transferred to Comox! He finally arrived at 1130 last night. Today was busy with visits from the doctor, Occupational Therapy and dietician. James slept on the ride from Victoria to Comox. He seems to have settled in nicely to his new room. Tomorrow we will figure out a wheelchair for him. Tomorrow he starts physio. I am sure it will be another busy day!