There isn't much new going on except for some progress with getting Logan to try different foods. The day after I posted that he was refusing to try just about anything to eat, he began to try a variety of foods. One morning he had several bites of eggs and oatmeal, then biscuits with gravy the next day and on Friday morning he had bacon. Everything is still in small amounts, but the fact that he is willing to try them is a big improvement. Also, he is getting better at drinking with a straw which requires more coordinated movements than we realize. We keep telling him that he has to work his way up to roast with rice and gravy, so maybe he's trying the less appealing stuff in an effort to get there. Cade and Josh visited on Friday; thanks for making the trip. The schedule will be different next week since he will be having the surgery on Tuesday. We're not sure how long the stay will be at the hospital or what he will be able to do in the days immediately after returning to TIRR. We do know there will be some restrictions on bending past a certain point for several weeks to allow the pump catheter to bind in place. He will be able to continue with therapy and standing should be okay as well. Please continue to keep him in your prayers as he goes into this next surgery.

                        Logan has had many visitors over the past several days; Anita, Matt and Grant came over on Saturday, Laken Josh and their boys stop by on Sunday, and Jared and Reggie drove over on Monday night. Thanks to all. As far as we know, the surgery is still set for Tuesday, March 2nd. In the meantime, Logan continues with all of his therapies as usual. He is still trying to speak, with a word or two coming out here and there. We aren't having as much success with the feeding as we would like, not because he can't swallow, but due to the fact that nothing tastes good to him. He is simply refusing to eat very much of anything. He will be given something to rinse his mouth with that will help clean his tongue and possibly help get his taste buds going again. Physically, he handling himself better and is able to help with his care more as time goes by. He seems to understand most of what he is told and will usually do whatever is asked of him (he has some moments of being less cooperative than others, but I think that's just Logan being Logan, not a communication problem). He does get frustrated from time to time when he can't make himself understood, but that's to be expected. The most recent thing that he said to me was , "Yea right", when I was lecturing him about something. I've heard those two words a million times in the past. The speech guy still resorts to holding Logan's nose in order to get him to speak; he tells Logan that he is going to count to ten and for him to count along. Logan is able to say the correct number in the sequence, even if it takes going all the way to the number ten before he says it out loud. We're hoping that he will begin to get his voice going without making him uncomfortable to do so; holding his nose ticks him off pretty good, but it helps him figure out how to move his vocal cords. Logan keeps throwing his right leg out of the bed and is strong enough to pull himself up a little,  so today he will get a different bed which is lower to the ground, just in case he manages to maneuver himself out of the bed. I don't think he can do that yet, although he has been giving me a "let's go" signal (holding his arm up and pointing vigorously) like he's ready to break out of this place. I don't blame him, but there's still a lot of work to do.

                        Logan has had many visitors over the past several days; Anita, Matt and Grant came over on Saturday, Laken Josh and their boys stop by on Sunday, and Jared and Reggie drove over on Monday night. Thanks to all. As far as we know, the surgery is still set for Tuesday, March 2nd. In the meantime, Logan continues with all of his therapies as usual. He is still trying to speak, with a word or two coming out here and there. We aren't having as much success with the feeding as we would like, not because he can't swallow, but due to the fact that nothing tastes good to him. He is simply refusing to eat very much of anything. He will be given something to rinse his mouth with that will help clean his tongue and possibly help get his taste buds going again. Physically, he handling himself better and is able to help with his care more as time goes by. He seems to understand most of what he is told and will usually do whatever is asked of him (he has some moments of being less cooperative than others, but I think that's just Logan being Logan, not a communication problem). He does get frustrated from time to time when he can't make himself understood, but that's to be expected. The most recent thing that he said to me was , "Yea right", when I was lecturing him about something. I've heard those two words a million times in the past. The speech guy still resorts to holding Logan's nose in order to get him to speak; he tells Logan that he is going to count to ten and for him to count along. Logan is able to say the correct number in the sequence, even if it takes going all the way to the number ten before he says it out loud. We're hoping that he will begin to get his voice going without making him uncomfortable to do so; holding his nose ticks him off pretty good, but it helps him figure out how to move his vocal cords. Logan keeps throwing his right leg out of the bed and is strong enough to pull himself up a little,  so today he will get a different bed which is lower to the ground, just in case he manages to maneuver himself out of the bed. I don't think he can do that yet, although he has been giving me a "let's go" signal (holding his arm up and pointing vigorously) like he's ready to break out of this place. I don't blame him, but there's still a lot of work to do.

          Things are still moving along nicely. The good news is that Logan is beginning to say words; the bad news is that they aren't always nice words. In an effort to get him to use his voice, the speech therapist holds Logan's nose (this forces him to breathe through his mouth and it also causes some discomfort) which prompts him to talk. The therapist just laughs, but I put my head down and insist that I raised him better than that. In Logan's defense, if someone was holding my nose and forcing me to gasp for air, I can't promise that I wouldn't let fly a few choice words myself. He has said a few more appropiate words as well. Sometimes, he speaks in a whisper and it's difficult to make out what he is saying. When he does speak loud enough, his voice is still a little raspy, but I'm sure it will improve as he uses it more. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that he recognizes colors and it seems that he recognizes letters as well. He has written his name(first name) several times; it is shaky looking, but he is writing with his non-dominant hand, so it's not that bad. Besides, his penmanship was terrible before all this. Also, the therapist asked him to write a number of different letters and he managed to write something that could be identified as each letter that he was asked to write. Everyday, it seems that he does something that he wasn't able to do a week or even a few days ago. He is able to stick his tongue out where you can see it and today he was able to move it from side to side; this may sound like no big deal, but it is crucial to his speech and he couldn't do that until recently. He is very aware of what is going around around him as I found out today while we were waiting for the elevator. I was talking to someone from Louisiana and we let the elevator pass us by a few times. The next time the elevator opened, Logan poked me on the arm and pointed to the door; I guess he was ready to go. He is trying different foods(all soft or pureed) and so far he doesn't like any of them. Getting his taste buds back to normal will take a while. The pump surgery is tentatively set for March 2nd. We went for an appointment in another building in the medical center today and for the first time Logan was transported in his wheelchair by the TIRR van, not by ambulance. It went well and the neurosurgeon was pleased with Logan's progress. He made a slight adjustment to his shunt and will probably do so again in a couple of weeks.         More later.

                      Emily drove in to visit today, so it was a very good day. Logan was a little surly today at times which prompted his therapist to let him know that he was being a pain in the butt. He is still trying to speak every now and then, but there weren't any recognizable words today. Emily and I were working with him on a dry erase board when the speech pathologist came into the room, so she started writing names on the board to see if he could recognize them. She would write two names on the board and ask which name was his mother's, sister's, his own name, and even the name of the dog he had when he was growing up. He could point to the correct answer. We'll have to see if he can repeat this a few times, but it looks promising. As the therapist said, if he can do this, it will open up a whole new area of communication. As of today, we do not have a date for the pump surgery, but hopefully, it won't be too long. We're still working on a number of things everyday that involve both physical abilities and cognition. It's going to be a long ,slow process; we've known that all along.

                   It was a busy weekend with lots of family and friends coming to visit. Gabe and Jada came by on Saturday for a couple of hours; thanks to both of you for making the trip. Jenny, Roy, and their very well-behaved boys, Jack and Gray along with Tanny and Clare also came by on Saturday afternoon . Logan was doing really well until Amy called, then he slipped back into some old habits(they know what I'm talking about). Robley and Nadine drove in on Sunday and came by; they're staying with family in Houston and will stop back by on Monday. It's a long drive and we really appreciate all of you making the effort. I guess we'll get back to the normal routine on Monday; I haven't seen the schedule yet , so I'm not sure what we're going to be doing.

                         Things are still going well; it was  busy this week with the medication trial on Monday, then a CT scan on Tuesday (these are not done at TIRR, so it takes up several hours of the day to get them done and get back). Amy has been with Logan for a couple of days and now that he has a way of communicating, he has managed to insult her several times (this is in keeping with their relationship before this happened). She says that over the last couple of days he has consistently given her a "thumbs up" to the question, "Are you ready for me to leave yet"? In that regard, I think he knows exactly what he is doing. She also got some voicing out of him, maybe a "yea" to a question and a "quit it" when she was poking him on the arm. We'll have to wait and see if he repeats either of them to be sure. Earlier this week I tried casting  a kid sized fishing pole that Amy put in his room to see if he would remember how to reel it in - he did. Yesterday, she put  the pole in his right hand(Logan was left-handed) he put his thumb on the lever, slung it underhanded and released the lever to cast it. That's a fisherman for you.

                 Logan had a lot of good company over the weekend. Megan, Chris, Lauren and Dustin and Brent all came by for a visit on Saturday. They all got smiles out of him when talking to him about various things (I will not go into detail about some souvenir statue that he gave to Megan some time back, but when she mentioned it , he cracked up). He continues to do something or respond to something new everyday. He has begun to nod his head for yes and no and continues to use the thumbs up and down as well. Following commands is increasing in consistency, and he has begun to follow two step commands like "Touch your ear, then shut your eyes." Following simple commands is helpful in so many ways; it will enable him to assist with his care and eventually with transfers from the bed to the chair, etc. He is able to move his tongue more and open his mouth better which will help with voicing (no words yet, just sounds, but that's the next big thing everyone is waiting for). The medication trial today was successful and Logan will very likely be getting a pump which must be put in his abdomen surgically. We don't have a date on that yet, then the tendon lengthening will be done, and finally, the trach removal (woo hoo!). After the medication was administered today, Logan had a significant amount of improvement in his range of motion on the left side and also some improvement on the right side; he was able to sit up with his back straighter and with less assistance than before. It will be interesting to see what he does in therapy tommorrow since receiving the injection. Logan got a visit from Pam of the Calcasieu Parish Sherriff's Office today; thanks to Pam and all of the employees of the CPSO for all that you've done and continue to do for Logan. We will always be grateful. At the moment, things are moving along quickly with measurable improvements happening every day. That felt really good to say. More later.

                   Logan was videotaped today to document his range of motion, etc. before the trial with the injection of medication on Monday. He will receive the injection on Monday morning and must remain in bed for four hours while waiting for it to take effect. He will then be videotaped again to compare it with the before tape. If the medication has a positive effect on his spacticity (on the left side), they will decide whether to continue to give him injections periodically or consider placing a pump under the skin in his abdomen to automatically release the medication. If this works for him (it varies from patient to patient), it could be helpful in improving his ability to move and control his movements. Right now, his left arm and leg spasm and stiffen up when he tries to move which lilmits his mobility a great deal. He is continuing to make small improvements both physically and cognitively. We are working on a system of communication which uses a thumbs up or a thumbs down for yes and no. While we don't get a definitive answer every time, we do get a pretty good indication of what his answer is often. Sometimes, we get an immediate thumbs down, and he will shake it down several times which makes us feel confident that he wants us to quit what we're doing asap. Likewise, we get answers to questions about what he likes or recognizes in the same way. For example, today he was asked what kind of ice cream that he liked and he gave a thumbs up to vanilla, then chocolate, and a thumbs down to strawberry; I'm pretty sure that's true. We have been told that his tastes may not be the same as they were before, so we'll have to experiment with different flavors. His swallowing is improving with practice, and tommorow he will get to try some applesauce ( I don't think he liked applesauce, but it will be a new texture). He continues to get juices and today he had sherbet and ice cream as well. As was true before the injury, Logan's sense of humor favors the absurd and the obnoxious, and his therapists are more than willing to oblige to get a laugh out of him. Whatever the reason, it's always good to see him smile.

Logan has been at TIRR, 4 months today. In his time here, there have been setbacks, but his progress of late has been very positive & significant. We appreciate everyone's continued prayers and support; a special thanks to Logan's most recent visitors- Josh, Laken, Melanie, Mike, Allie & Taylor.