A few weeks ago the caregiver found Nathaniel unresponsive in his bed after his nap. We rushed straight to the emergency department. After lots of tests and scans, the neurologist on duty thought that he probably had a silent/absent seizure so they treated him for that. He spent the night in the hospital so they could monitor him. Afterward, he was quite tired and out of it for more than a week, but now he seems to be even better than before. In fact, the caregivers were putting a dress shirt on him one evening. They turned around to get something and when they looked again, Nathaniel was buttoning the shirt by himself, something he hasn’t done since the attack. At the end of the night, when it was time to undress, he was able to unbutton the shirt.
He went to a sukkah party at a friend’s house. The friends were eating chicken wings and french fries. They gave him some and he ate without a problem (they deboned the chicken and cut the pieces into small bites). He smiled a lot. We are still working on learning to swallow liquids.
Nathaniel was playing a video game like Pong. I noticed that he couldn’t get any of the balls on the right side. The OT thinks maybe he has a bit of right neglect, which they are working on. They are also working on it in vision therapy. The vision therapist put objects on both sides of the treatment table. Nathaniel tried to move everything to his left side so it would be easier. It is a good sign that he takes initiative to help himself. The therapist moved the objects back to where she had placed them.
The OT worked on 4-box Sudoku (numbers 1–4). He was a champ. He was able to indicate to her where the numbers should go. He could draw the number 1 in the space, but the others were harder to write, so she did the writing. Before he was injured he loved Sudoku.
It’s nice to see him participate in activities and eat foods he used to enjoy.