"Does everybody know I'm awake?"

November 14th : Part One
The journal entry for this day is 11 pages long. It was a busy day! I am going to break it up into parts for you - and for me. This may put me behind a bit in my goal of trying to stay on the corresponding date, but it will be worth it.

Wednesday 14 November 2001
10:25 am  Brian was originally scheduled to move to Providence tomorrow, but he has some discharge leaking from the implant area, and it is being tested for infection. This could entail moving the implant to the other side. Meanwhile, his move will be postponed while the tests are run, possibly to Monday. He is not in any pain from it.
This morning Brian's catheter was removed! So now he will be working on telling people when he has to pee (and have bowel movements). When Brian goes to Providence, I will get to ride in the wheelchair transport with him. I let Kathy, the Discharge Services person, know that Dave and I are the most available; they let one person ride in the vehicle. She will check with Christie at Providence as to the time (or I will call Christie).
Brian was eating breakfast when Dave and I went in: bacon, omelette, applesauce, muffin, apple juice, milk. Dr. Fennel was talking to us and said, "Look at that guy eat!" Brian ate virtually every bite. We offered him yesterday's smoothie, but he was too full. He wanted to know if it was a big smoothies, and said, "Make me a small smoothie," We told him he could drink half!
Brian asked us, "Did you have caffeine today?" He wanted to know if we had coffee or tea. "I don't want coffee," he said with a frown.
Brian told us to "Open the doors and push me out." He wants to go for a ride in his chair! We will try to get this arranged. He is with the PT David now, so he is already in the chair.
Better nurse today: Linda from Monday.
Dave explained to Brian that PT would be at ten, so we couldn't get him in the chair yet, and had Brian look at the clock to see what time it was (or how much time was left). Brian said "14 minutes", which was correct. Later Dave asked him again, and Brian said "12 minutes", correcting Dave who had said it was about fifteen. The last time Dave asked, Brian was again correct, "5 minutes". (So exciting that this skill was intact!!)
When David the PT came in, Brian wanted to show him the proofs of the 8x10 self-portrait prints and cards we brought from Eric Warren. David asked if he did the drawing last year, and Brian frowned/scoffed and replied, "No, at the beginning of the school year," which is true.
2:05 pm  "Does everybody know I'm awake?" "I'm not sure if I remember that, but it sounds comfortable."
Two quotes of Brian's from today. The latter in response to Dave holding Brian's hand in the same grip he did during the coma and saying, "Hi Brian. It's me, Dave." Brian is starting to ask why he is in the hospital, how long, how long he was in the coma. He knows and doesn't know he was in the coma.

Thus began the continuing saga of Brian's memory loss. We had to explain and remind and try to explain again what happened. He also had no concept of the passage of time - nor does he today. Brian is a true Be Here Now person. This time period is just stories we tell him. He remembers the stories.