Wakeful Time

Henry continues to rest quietly for the most part. Occasionally he complains of a headache and the fact that he does so calmly with words tells us he is not in acute pain. We keep him on a steady stream of medicines for any of that pain.

He does arouse for brief periods here and there during which we can administer medicines and tell him we love him. He signs 'I love you' back - what a blessing he knows how to do that. He'll blow kisses. He excuses himself after each burb - which have become so very frequent - sometimes even in his sleep. He'll ask for juice with a sweet 'yes, please'. If he's awake for any duration, we begin reminiscing about his life to help him recall.

He had a very wakeful period today starting at about noon. He decided he wanted ice cream and sat up on Tara's lap eating. He appeared tired and we laid him back down only for him to say, "I wanna sit in Daddy's lap now."

We sat together and he ate mandarin oranges (or as he's says 'Mandarinin'). For a time we concluded he thought he was in the hospital, requesting to see the menu and insisting that he wanted to order himself. At the moment this began we were recalling the food service worker, Ms. Eunice, that was always so caring, taking Henry's orders and bringing his food.

For a time he also hallucinated about being back at daycare, this spurred on by a call from there with good wishes and thoughts from the children he calls his friends and the teachers he loves. He talked about rearranging the cots for nap and putting them away in the closet. I'm not sure if he was seeing this as he recalled it happening or if his capacity to relate memories now just takes place in the present.

After a time these visions became irritating, as if someone was bugging him in a bad mood. He threw his blankies 'down the stairs' but then cried that he wanted them back. They were just at the foot of the bed. At one point he seemed asleep, turned over toward me, opened his eyes and crowed like a rooster. These continued to become less pleasantly entertaining and more disturbing and upsetting to him so we medicated him for agitation and sleep. It was so nice and unexpected to have additional meaningful conversations with him.