Day 55 (Oct 19)

Tobias' progress leveled off today.  He was exhausted today and couldn't respond much during his multiple therapy sessions that we joined.  The first therapy session started before we were allowed in the hospital and may be why Tobias was so tired for the rest of the day.  He was apparently responsive at that early hour.  He scored 16 points on the Coma Recovery Scale test.  His top score to date was 13, but he was able to demonstrate all of his prior skills and added verbal responses to his list of accomplishments.  He is getting closer to being classified as conscious.

We understood him a few times today.  He responded with "yes" and "good".  He even used the grammatically correct "well" when asked how he slept the night before.  The night nurse left a message that Tobias wished him "happy birthday" when Tobias found out that it was the nurse's birthday.  Tobias opened his mouth wide enough for me to get the suction wand inside and clean his tongue.  Katja was fast enough with the toothbrush and was able to apply the thrush medicine on his tongue.  These were all of the positive developments.  He spent most of the day sleeping and unresponsive.

A friend of mine posted a comment that was particularly fitting so I want to repeat it in the blog.  He remarked that the monotonous days that I recorded were similar to a sailor's experience who crosses an ocean.  Each day passes like the last with no perceptible changes.  It may storm or the sun may shine, but by and large each day is like every other.  One can't tell from the surroundings how much progress is being made, but then one day a sea gull hovers above, smells of land reach the boat and eventually land appears on the horizon.  This is a good analogy to what Katja and I experienced the last few weeks.  It has been a stormy passage and we can't see land yet, but hearing Tobias speak has given us confidence that our voyage is piling up sea miles and we long to anchor in a future safe harbor.

Hope over fear.