Communication experiments

Mike was looking alert and intelligent when I arrived tonight. He tried mouthing some words at me, but I did not 'get it'. I checked that he could pick out letters of the alphabet pretty well from a chart. Next I put a pen in his right hand and held some paper on a backing board up in front of him. I guided his hand to write 'Mike' and then let his hand do the writing. He gave it a go and made some indecipherable squiggley lines before the pen 'ran out' from being held horizontal for too long. Must take a pencil next time. From time to time Mike tried to communicate by lifting his forearm vertically from his horizontal upper arm, pointing his forefinger (like a gun) and lowering the forearm towards my head. Then he repeated the manouvre, this time with his forefinger and index fingers extended as one. I did not get it. Apparently he had tried the same thing first with Tracy then with Lee earlier in the day, but they did not 'get it' either. He did not want me to do anything for him, so presumably he was trying to communicate something.

I did get one message clearly. I was drinking some coffee by his bedside. Mike moved his arm over to me to get my attention. He made a circle of his fingers and shifted the circle to his lips where he tilted an invisible 'cup' into his mouth. I asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee, and scored a hit. Since he could not see the coffee, this is our strongest indication to date that he has a sense of smell. Unfortunately even a well person without a 'trachy' could not be expected to handle hot coffee while lying on his back. So Mike just got another reason for continuing to focus on his recovery. I don't think he needed another reason, but he seemed to take it well.

He seems to be making good progress too with clearing his throat. That is necessary in order to get rid of his 'trachy'. Then we will be able to see how well he can speak.

Bryce