YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY ONLY SUNSHINE...

SUNSHINE! Both physically and metaphorically. And I sing this song to him all the time. I recently found it printed on wood at a craft fair. I bought it and it now hangs on our living room wall amongst the photos of our life together.

Craig is still responding and continues to improve with the new drug combination. 

There have been very, very few outbursts and rages. No more primal screams. Craig is finally now calm and peaceful 99% of the time.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am. We both are. It was extremely painful for both of us. 

There are a few "angels" that work at the memory "care". They are beginning to take him out of his room and to an area off of the dining room for his meals, instead of feeding him in his room all day, every day. 

He used to pound his fists on the table, try to overturn it and yell. Now he is calm and happy to be out of his room. Praise God. † 

Today one of them took him out of his room again, for the activities. STUNNING from just a few weeks ago. She said he did really well and others told me that he was participating and even trying to answer some trivia questions. Again, STUNNINGLY GREAT news. This is all HUGE as Craig has not been able to leave his room in months because "noises" upset him.

They are still working with his legs, having him walk with assistance from his care-managers, but he is upright and using them! He is able to support himself now with assistance. We all praise him on how well he is doing. He loves that and smiles a big "proud of himself" smile. 

With the sun shining lately I was chomping at the bit for an opportunity to try to get him outside. Craig always loved being outside in the sunshine. When I cautiously took him out the first time, he was so happy! As we strolled in the yard he was smiling, then became concerned that he wasn't supposed to be out there. That's my cue to take him back to his room.

The second time he was smiling and relaxed and lasted about 10 minutes before the concern came. You can see here he is really enjoying being outside for the first times in months.  I had to lend him my sunglasses as it was so bright for him he was hiding his eyes when we first went out. 

NOTE TO SELF: bring his sunglasses with me tomorrow. 

The other day I was reading the local news to him off my iPad. He is still in there and very cognizant, as he would react appropriately to stories I was reading with an "oh geez!" or something similar. He may not always be able to vocalize his thoughts, but he is very aware.

And he still knows who you are. I was telling him how I ran into his old friends on Sunday evening and another one today and he looked at me very interested and said "oh really?"  He smiled as I told him how everyone was doing. He knows you.

I play some music for him on my iPad; sometimes he doesn't like that. Some days he loves it and I take his hands and imitate dancing with him as he sits on the sofa whistling and smiling. One day he lifted his hands to me and said "DANCE!" Talk about melting my heart...

Sometimes you can understand what he is saying and other times it is incomprehensible. Sometimes he's telling a great story with facial expressions, hand gestures and laughter but you can't understand a word of it. I feel cheated once again of a great story!

The moments when we do connect, when we relate are BLISS. Tonight was BLISS.

Here are a few pictures of recent visits:

HUGS AGAIN! Finally. Tears of joy...

Craig reached out on his own and held my hand for the first time in months. Our friend Jean caught the moment on camera.  Thank you again Jean. 

Anytime any of you would like to visit Craig, I'm happy to be there with you if you'd like. No problem. Just let me know when.

Tonight I brought him a burger and his all time favorite from McDonald's -  a vanilla milkshake.

HE HELD IT HIMSELF. His care-manager came in and witnessed it and was truly amazed. 

GOD IS GREAT.

Thank you for your prayers.

Please keep Craig there, in God's grip.