Well, another week has passed and we’re moving forward. Braeden had 2 separate appointments at Children’s Hospital of Seattle giving us some much needed info and direction.
Monday he met with a Speech Language Pathologist. We found out he still has some issues with memory and word retrieval. For that, come July, he will start weekly sessions in a group of teens called Return To Learn. They focus on developing executive functioning skills (such as tools for remembering things that need to get done, as well as increasing cognitive stamina). That’s a 12 week program, after which he should be back in full form.
Then on Friday we went to Children’s TBI Clinic (Traumatic Brain Injury). The doctor commented that Braeden is doing remarkably well given his injury. But we still have healing to accomplish. Braeden was hoping for clearance to drive again, but she told him “no”. But we now have information about the return to driving process. She gave us information about driving rehabilitation services. Once she gives us the go ahead, we will contact them to evaluate Braeden’s fitness to drive. As you can imagine, he really misses the level of independence driving provides.
The clinician also told us that Braeden has to keep both feet on the ground for about 3 months – until the skull fracture heals. This means some of the items that are cleared for activities when concussion sufferers “feel up to it” are off the list. Which provides him some more frustrations.
School ends next Wednesday. We are trying to encourage Braeden to attend at least 1 class each day, but the issues with memory, word retrieval and focus do make school hard and unpleasant. With things like finals, it’s even more challenging. But there is end of year fun that might make school more appealing and less exhausting.
We want to extend a big thank you for your prayers and warm wishes, and all the support we’ve received.
