Jason Michael Brewer
"JJ"
Jason
FEBRUARY UPDATES
Monday, February 2, 2003: Jason was very alert over the weekend. He was waving at his visitors with both hands. He was throwing his OSU teddy bear at people. While his mom was out of the room he received a ring that he is wearing on his right hand. She was just wondering where it came from?? I told her at least it is on his right hand, she doesn't have to worry that he had gotten married while she was gone. We don't know when he will be moving to rehab because he still has some congestion in his lungs. Any donations for the Jason Brewer Fund can be sent to Jason Brewer Fund 228 E. Main St. Newark, OH 43055. The checks should be made out to Jason Brewer Fund. As you all know medical bills like Jason's are very high and is not competely paid by insurance. Gail as of now does not have a income and still has her own bills plus the cost of eating and living in Columbus to be with Jason. Gail is a single parent. Jason's father passed away in 1995 from a brain aneurysm. Gail will be part of Jason's rehab because she will have to learn with him to enable her to care for him. This is going to be a long road for Jason but with a lot of help we are hoping for the best outcome for him.
Update: Monday, February 3, 2003: Donation can also be taken to any of the Park National Bank branches and deposited into the Jason Brewer Savings Fund.
Wednesday, February 5, 2003: The therapist had Jason standing up today. He has been reading questions wrote to him and has been answering them back in writing. Please feel free to visit Jason.
Thursday, February 6,2003: Jason has finally moved to rehab. Room 3632 - Get off elevator on 3rd floor - turn left - keep left until double doors - 2nd room on left. He was moved about 5:00 pm yesterday. They are just evaluating him today. Hope to start rehab program tomorrow. He will be limited vistation Monday - Friday after 4:00 pm, as rehab is 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. Weekends - any time. Phone 722-5632. He is doing great!
Friday, February 7, 2003: Jason is going through his first full day of therapy. He is doing great! He learned to mouth "MOM" (as he cannot talk yet, but this is the first step towards learning). He put a big smile on my face! (I am trying to do these updates myself now). He has mouthing exercises do to this weekend. He has homework. He is also holding his head and body up by himself with little assistance. He is standing on both legs while being transferred to his wheelchair. They are playing games with him and he is cooperating.
Saturday, February 8, 2003: Jason was exhausted after his first full day of rehab. He did a variety of exercises. He has captured all the nurses hearts. They think he is a sweetie. But, ofcourse! He will only have physical therapy twice on Saturday and Sunday @ 1/2 hr increments. He slept very well through the night.
MESSAGE FROM GAIL: I want to thank everyone for being so kind to Jason and I - with your e-mails, donations, thoughts, prayers, kind words, hugs, cards, stuffed animals, etc. We do have a long road ahead of us. So, please keep the prayers going. This is what is pulling Jason through this ordeal. He is quite the fighter - isn't he? Licking Memorial Hosp and Children's Hosp ER did not think he would live. Well, he and God and the angels have shown them. I do believe that Jason's daddy (Mike) is one of the angels watching over him and helping him through this ordeal. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND EVERYTHING!
Monday, February 10,2003: I am sorry there was no update yesterday - I couldn't get to a computer. He had a great weekend. He had lots of visitors. He communicated by writing. I understand that he remembers the accident and that Stevie Brewer was nice and helped him until the squad could get to him. He remembers hitting the little tree before hitting the big tree (I didn't even know there was a little tree). I have been so afraid to ask him if he remembers. His friend Jessie bought him an eraseable message board to communicate. He will have his 1st full week of therapy, this week. He is now in what they call Rancho #4 stage. Which is agitation. I will see how it goes. If I see that he gets agitated more with people around - I might have to cut off visitation for a while. We'll see how it goes. But, please don't be offended. I have to do what is best for my son.
Tuesday, February 11,2003: Jason stood with little assistance (holding onto a table) for 5 minutes yesterday and 10 min today. He is mouthing words. He is sitting up with little assistance. The therapists are great with him. They still need to work with him on keeping his eye open and head up and eye hand coordination. He is being a little lazy. He had fun playing with his cousin Tim and his wife Carrie last evening. They played connect 4. He won some games. Tim tossed the football back and forth and hit him in the head. Ouch! It's a soft football. HaHa.
MESSAGE FROM GAIL: I did not mean to imply that the ER doctors and nurses gave up on Jason. I know they are what pulled him through to keep him alive to go on to where he is now. I want to THANK all the emergency squad people, doctors and nurses in ER, PICU, 3 Tower South and now in Rehab (I thank everyone involved). I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I still have my little boy.
Wednesday, February 12, 2003: Jason is doing awesome today. He is practicing swallowing. Mouthing words. You can actually hear the air - so he is trying to say the words rather than just mouthing. He still has a problem with his neck muscles. They are so tight and it hurts for him to turn his head. The therapists are trying different things to loosen him up. He is doing great with his left leg and hand and arm. So, when we play games with him, I suggest he use his left rather than his right side - to get it strengthened. He got down on all fours today with assistance and knelt (straight up) for a long time while reaching for things.
Thursday, February 13, 2003: Jason stood (w/assistance) and slam dunked bean bags in a basketball hoop. This afternoon they are talking about helping him walk w/parellel bars. He blew his math teacher (Jayne) away, as he knew how to count money, give change. Then she had some math problems that they worked on. She states he got an "A" for today. Speech - worked on a memory book. He needs to be responsible to fill out every day. He has more classes this afternoon.
Friday, February 14,2003: In group (which is like homeroom) we had a valentines party. Jason gave me a rose, a card he made out and candy. Well, guess what? Jason was walking yesterday and today. He walked with aid of parellel bars and then a walker. Ofcourse the therapist was holding on to his gait belt. Yesterday he walked half way from the gyn to his room and today he walked all the way. I have it on video. It was awesome - made me cry. But, they are definately happy tears. He also was standing w/a bar in his hand and they were bouncing a big rubber ball and he would hit it w/this bar. He is in speach class right now. More later.
Saturday, February 15, 2003: Jason walked from the gym to his room (in the afternoon) by holding on to the pole that holds his meds - w/the help of a therpist holding onto his gait belt. He is doing super. He and I spent the night alone - as the weather was terrible. But, that was alright. We had a good time. He played hockey today and walked a little this morning. We played Uno. He likes that game. He can beat me. More later.
Sunday, February 16, 2003: Jason played a lot of Uno and Connect 4 yesterday with myself, Aunt Diana, Jimmy, Aunt Sally and Grandma. He was tired at bedtime. He slept in today until about 10:00 - only because we made him get up. He does not have Physical Therapy today. So far, we are looking at magazines and will play games later on. I'm looking for different games today. I hope no one comes to visit today, as the weather is awful. I wouldn't want to feel responsible for someone getting into an accident. Jason and I will be fine.
Monday, February 17, 2003: Jason's goal for this week is holding his head up while sitting and walking. Also, walking more. My goal for him is to talk. In OT/PT (Occ Therapy/Physical Therapy) this morning he followed an obstacle course and did very well and remembered at the end to put the red and blue bean bags in the basket. He will also have this therapy this afternoon. He is in speech class right now. They are teaching him to swallow and talk through his trach. More later.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003: Yesterday afternoon he walked an obstacle course - but, in the beginning he had to memorize a picture of dots in the shape of an X with different colored pegs and at the end of the course he had to put in correct colored pegs in a board with the correct diagram (an X) and he did it. In OT/PT today he played games at a table while standing on one leg and balancing his foot on a log. He will go to the ophthamolgist office shortly to check out his eye. The doctor called him a miracle child as his right eye is no longer fixed. The color is coming back and the eye is moving, as well as the eye lid. He has been in pain. So, he will go for testing this morning. More later.
Thursday, February 20, 2003: I am so sorry I did not update yesterday. I played hookey. I had to go to my chiropractor and then I just had to have my hair done and then I went and talked to my employer. My mom (bless her heart) stayed with Jason and went to all his classes. I understand he did very well. He did have his eye checked out and since he needs to keep his eye lid shut, so his eye can heal - they are going to operate Feb 27th and sew a weight in his eyelid to keep it shut so the ointment and antibiotics can do their job. They could not do the extensive testing, as he is to agitated to cooperate. They will wait until closer to discharge. We have a tentative discharge date of March 27th. It could be sooner. This morning, in speech class, Michelle put on a Passy-Muir valve on Jason's trech so he can talk (Oh, Yeah, I almost forgot - yesterday his trech was downsized. One step closer to getting it out). So, when I came back from Newark yesterday, Jason said (in his own voice) - "hi mom". That was so cool. Today he said "I love you". More later.
****Who was the angel that cleared by driveway and porch? Thank you so much!****
Friday, February 21, 2003: They are capping Jason's trech every hour (when it is capped, this means he cannot breathe through the trech - only his mouth). It is capped the 1st hour - then wait an hour - then cap it for 2 hours - wait an hour - then cap it for 3 hours, etc. Which is even closer to coming out. Yeah!!!! He is walking to all of his therapy classes now - no more wheelchair. He has a lot of homework this weekend - mouth exercises - so he can talk effectively. We need to work on his swallowing, also, so he can start eating and drinking. I might need help - as he does better if someone else reminds him to swallow, rather than mom reminding him.
Saturday, February 22, 2003: Jason did a no-no last night - he pulled out his trech. So, ofcourse they had to put it back in - he did not like that. Today his trech will be capped off all day,until he goes to bed. Then, tomorrow they will cap it off for 24 hrs - if he tolerates it, they will have a meeting and decide when to take it out. He is doing very well.
Monday, February 24, 2003: Jason had a great weekend. He had lots of vistors. He is talking more and more. I guess they are not going to take out the trach today, as he is having surgery on his eye on Thursday and they want to use this trach - perfect air way. I was gone part of yesterday and I found out that he played on his play station game with Alisha and he put an entry on this web site. He would not do any of those things for me. So, I'm glad Rhonda and Jessie were able to get him on the computer and Alisha was able to get him to play the play station. Well, I went back to work today part time. I need the money, plus I will need the time to take Jason to his therapy appts once he gets out of the hospital. I plan on working 3 days/wk - 4 hrs/day.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003: My mom told me that Jason did very well today. I believe Jason has a hearing problem in his right ear - so, he had a little hearing test today. I don't know the results, yet. My mom took videos, so, I don't miss anything. More later.
Thursday, February 27, 2003: Jason is doing wonderful. He had his eye surgery today and it went very well. He is sleeping now. I'm hoping he'll be able to continue his therapies tomorrow. He had some friends visiting last evening and I asked him if he wanted to sit at the table in the recreation room or at the computer. He wanted to sit at the computer. He immediately brought up this web site and started reading the e-mails. I was very surprised and proud that he could accomplish this task. He has only been shown once how to get into this web site (to my knowledge) He sent some personal e-mails of his own. I have no idea what he wrote - I wanted him to have his privacy. He is doing a lot of talking now. I found out that something is wrong with his hearing in the right ear. They will do a more extensive hearing test tomorrow at 1:30. I will let everyone know how that turns out.
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