Sticky Brain

I picture Neil's brain to be like walls and walls covered with adhesive. The events and experiences that happen throughout his life are little notes that attach to these walls and stay there for him to recall and review. Since awakening from his comatose state, his current memory walls have very little adhesive. Things may stick briefly before they fly away, or not at all. We've been hoping and praying for stronger glue to hold onto the moments, the people, the feelings he encounters.

As I woke Neil up this morning, I quizzed him on upcoming events for the day and things that had happened yesterday and found that everything stuck! He remembered that Aunt Shelly was coming. He remembered visiting with Mike and texting Justin yesterday. He even remembered what he and Justin were texting about. It would have been wonderful if he could have continued throughout the day with his new memory skills, but the glue began to give out and the notes had trouble sticking again.

Those little moments of clarity are a thrill and give us hope for more. His short-term memory is improving gradually and we're looking forward to more experiences for him to remember.

Here's Neil finding a way to make his left side participate in a posed smile. Looks pretty authentic. It won't be long until this smile is real.

Disclaimer: I didn't take the lovely photo of the horse farm a few days ago, but I did spend a good hour on the Internet finding that picture of the exact farm that we passed on the way to therapy.