Day 10

Hello all, to start with a quick note on the blog, if there is anyone that we might have forgotten to send this to who would want to follow how Burt is doing please pass it along.  The messages have really helped Burt and he has started taking an active part in his blog, asking who is following and even doing a few choice mumble-outs... Suck Face II you better be reading.

Anyway, today was a great day by noon and it kept getting better.  Gregory and David showed up late and sans treats for the nurses, but Connie has baked brownies for tomorrow.  Connie spent the day at home and was convinced after much discussion to go the chiropractor.  Turns out in the process of saving her life David also managed to tear the cartilage across her rib cage.  She now has a brace and is beginning the slow road of recovery and thinking twice about coughing in David's presence again.

David and Gregory arrived at the hospital to find Burt alert and awake in a way they have not seen him yet throughout this process. Gregory was wearing an Isreali Coca Cola t-shirt that his brother picked up for him in Jerusalem.  Burt looked over and said he is not a sucker for advertising, but the shirt was making him thirsty.  Even though it was in Hebrew, the classic red and white symbol that he has seen his whole life immediately made him think of Coke.  Gregory promptly turned it inside out to eliminate the temptation.

Beyond being more alert, Burt also sounded markedly different after a session with the speech therapist this morning.  She taught him to project like he is speaking to the back of the room and isolate each word.  The difference was immediate and pronounced.  While he would slip back into mumbling from time to time he would snap out of his dysarthria when he was reminded to.

Burt used his newfound vocal ability to have some fun with his physical and occupational therapists.  As they sat him up he said, "Two beautiful young girls... this is a childhood fantasy.  I have a question... why do beautiful young girls, like yourselves, get tattoos. On their shoulders, their lower backs, and their arms... there terrible."  When they laughed and said they couldn't answer because they did not have them, he said, "of course you don't, you are smart and those tattoos are stupid... and ugly."  More sage wisdom from Burt.

The therapy session itself went well.  Burt sat up for nearly half an hour this time and was able to discern when he was leaning and when asked was able correct it.  They did all sorts of new exercises with him, like leaning him over to each side and swinging each leg.  The physical therapist even felt him pull back slightly with his left leg. He is unable to do this when lying down, but in a different body position he could faintly activate his knee.  One step closer to that cane.

After the session, Burt was totally spent and passed out, so David and Gregory ran some errands and had lunch.  While they were out, Burt's roommate Don was moved to rehab and Burt burned some donut mileage asking the nurses to rolled him into the prime window position.  When the Brothers Stern returned they adorned his room with large prints of Van Gogh, Dali and Doisneau to help him look around, orientate himself and practice focusing at different distances.  When they could not figure out how to hang the prints on the curtain with scotch tape, Burt suggested an old trick... paper clips.

The news of the day is that if Burt can go without running a temperature for 24 hours he will be moved to rehab.  Whether or not he would even be accepted into rehab has been a big unknown until now so this a massive development.  Hopefully he goes in tomorrow, but it could be as late as Monday.  The rehab digs are much snazzier than the current ones and comes complete with a gym and fake kitchen. 

As for the fever, they still do not know why he has been having them intermittently and have brought on an infectious disease specialist who had a cat-scan done of Burt's stomach.  About an hour before the scan the nurses pumped two bottles of contrasting liquid dye into the tube in his stomach.  The food chemists have been working over-time since your last scan achieving fantastic advances in contrast dye technology creating mouth-watering flavors like 'Tropical Fruit Breeze.'  Burt was unable to savor these exotic delights until a few minutes later when he belched and uttered, "I see the point of the flavor... You get another shot of tasting it when it comes up the other way." 

Even though today was a great day, the best so far, watching him struggle to relearn how to sit up straight and speak in a way that is understandable, you can’t help but think that a week and a half ago he was absolutely fine.  As Burt said today, “don’t put things off, because you never know what is around the corner.”