Update #25 on Peter

I mentioned previously that I probably wouldn’t update every day now that Peter’s progress is so steady but I didn’t expect to go this long without a post. I’m planning a longer post for tomorrow to coincide with the passing of 4 weeks since Peter’s accident so this post should get you up to speed on most of the big things.

Peter’s mom and dad were able to get visas to stay in Taiwan until November 23 at which time they can renew them for an additional month if needed. Thank you for praying for the visa situation. Thank you to those who helped figure out who to talk to and which offices to visit to get this taken care of. It is another example of how people have stepped in with expertise at just the right time.

Peter continues to show improvement. His physical therapy is going well. Peter’s spirits and attitude remain positive.

Peter is scheduled to check out of the hospital on Wednesday morning and then stick around for physical therapy that afternoon. After physical therapy, the plan is to move Peter to Chad and Alicia Edwards’ apartment because it will be more convenient for his continuing care than to be at Peter’s own apartment in Banqiao. Chad and Alicia are currently in the USA and have graciously allowed Peter and his family to use their apartment in whatever way is needed.

On Thursday, Peter has an appointment with a rehab doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) who specializes in neuroscience and has experience with traumatic brain injury.

Rick and I standing in front of the main doors to the hospital. If I recall correctly, this was the morning Rick arrived in Taipei and he came directly to the hospital.

Rick and Claudia with Dr. Peter and his wife Sarah. Angels.

Peter with one of his physical therapists working on walking.

Peter and Jen-Jen. Jen-Jen’s father’s funeral is this Saturday, October 24th.

This is a poor quality cell phone camera snap that I took when Peter was at physical therapy.

And this has nothing to do with Peter… as will be immediately obvious… but I *have* to share this with someone and you all are the biggest audience I’ve got. I took my daughter to school the other day and the dog and pig that live in a pen together at her school were hanging out. I give you two pictures of a dog sitting on a pig.

Update #24 on Peter

I was able to take Peter to physical therapy yesterday. I didn't get the description of his activities quite right. He actually goes 2 hours a day now, from 2PM to 4PM. The first hour is primarily for his left arm and the 2nd is primarily for walking.

The horizontal bar with the slots is actually a metal stand with pegs on the vertical rails. The bar can have weight attached to it. Peter had 1 1/2 kg attached and told the therapist this was just the right amount... not too easy and not too difficult.

The activity with the rings and pegs is not described correctly, either. It isn’t a board with short pegs up on the wall, but a metal stand on the table with several (6 or 7?) long vertical skewers sticking up, all of different heights. The skewers start off with blocks on them. Peter takes off the blocks and stacks them on the table. Then he puts the blocks back on the skewers.

I wasn’t there for the walking therapy, but I got to see where it happens and there isn’t anything special to report about it.

Peter takes the physical therapy very seriously. He not only goes to PT for 2 hours a day, but he tries to do extra work in his bed and his room. He can get out of bed and squat or kneel on the floor. He can do some pushups from his knees. He can practice standing up out of his bed and sitting down again. He clasps his hands in front of his chest to do this.

Overall, Peter continues to improve. There are some physical limitations and his memory still causes a few problems… but balance and hearing are still the most noticeable issues and they are the ones that frustrate Peter the most. Overall, the progress is still evident.

One thing we would like to ask you to pray about at this time is visas for Claudia and Rick. They came to Taiwan as quickly as possible with no time to get a visa. It was more important to just get here to be with Peter. US citizens can stay in Taiwan for 30 days without a visa and that time is almost up. Some friends are working to get this taken care of starting yesterday and today. We’ll keep you posted.

---

After I started this post and before I finished it… Claudia sent me this picture that she took when I was leaving the hospital today while Peter was still at PT. You can see the device with the skewers and blocks in front of Peter and the left side of the picture captures one vertical rail on the device where Peter lifts the horizontal bar up and down. Peter and I may or may not be laughing about having to re-enact the goodbye for the camera.

Update #23 on Peter

I have some more information about Peter’s physical therapy.

Peter goes to PT every day from 2PM to 3PM. To go to PT, he has to get in the wheelchair and go from 10th floor down to 1st floor and then out of one building, down a short alley, and then into another building. Then he goes up to 5th floor for PT.

Originally, he was to do 1/2 hour of movement with his left arm. And then 15 minutes of electrical stimulation and then 15 minutes of heat therapy. I’m not sure if they still follow this plan. I asked Peter what they had him do for his left arm. He mentioned 3 things:

• Using both hands, Peter grabs a horizontal bar attached to a weight by a cord that runs through a pulley into a box. He pulls this bar towards him, lifting the weight.
• Peter uses both hands to grab a different horizontal bar that is not attached to anything. He places this into some slots cut into wood in front of him. He then removes it and places it into slots up a little higher. He keeps removing the bar and placing it higher.
• He takes rings in his left hand and places them on pegs on a board on the wall up above his head. Then he removes the rings.

Peter says there is a spot on his shoulder that *really* hurts if touched, but that his arm is more sore and weak than painful. He is already gaining strength and we are now almost 100% certain that the weakness is due to bruising in his shoulder and not because the brain is not sending the right instructions to the arm. This is good news as it means that it will most likely heal with time and more therapy.

I asked Peter about walking and balance therapy. He said they are teaching him to walk again. He stood between parallel bars and tried to take steps using his own arm strength for support. He also stands on a stationary treadmill and tries to stand straight without touching the supports. If he is successful, the therapists give little pushes to see if he can regain balance. If is doesn’t regain balance, Peter says they use the “wedgie technique” to keep him from falling… they grab the waist of his pants and hold him up.

A few days ago, Peter was able to use the walker to get across the room and back to his bed. This was not easy for him and he was very tired and very dizzy after the trip. Yesterday, Peter used his walker to go across his room, out the door, turn left, walk about 12 meters down the hall, turn right, walk about 12 meters past the nurses station, turn right, walk about 20 meters to the end of the hall to look out a window and see Taipei City, with Taipei 101 in view. Then he made the return trip. It does seem like Peter’s balance problem is related to his hearing problems so it will probably take some time until his balance is restored to normal. There is dried blood on Peter’s eardrums and this affects his hearing in addition to any other damage, if any. Apparently, it is not practical to try to clean this blood off so it another thing that is only helped by time.

It is easy to see Peter’s progress. Peter understands that he was in a serious accident and as a result, he will have to re-learn many things. He is working hard to re-learn them and has a great attitude so far. I wanted to know how Peter was feeling. I asked him, “Peter, do you feel happy? Are you sad? Are you worried or scared? How are you?” He said that he was very happy and that he felt fortunate to be alive and to know of so many people who care about him and his family. I don’t feel there is any reason to doubt that this accurately describes how he feels.

It is possible that Peter will leave the hospital soon. He will continue various kinds of therapy for some time. His family is working out the next steps for Peter when he leaves the hospital, but we do know for sure that he can’t fly for one month.

Through Peter’s accident, many people from all around the world have become a community of sorts… perhaps we all feel like we are a part of Peter’s extended family? I get this impression and I think it is a good thing. One person in this new extended family who was never far from Peter’s side during the first few days was our Taiwanese Christian sister Jen-Jen. Many who read these posts know Jen-Jen. It is with sadness that I share that her father passed away last Sunday. He had been in poor health for many years, but it does not lessen the pain of this loss for Jen-Jen or for her 4 brothers or her mother. She was able to visit Peter today for the first time in a week and she giggled with joy while telling me of her visit with Peter and about Peter’s improvement since she last saw him. Peter’s attitude, disposition, humility, determination and faith are able to bring joy even to one who is mourning the loss of her father.

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!
– Psalm 30:11-12 (NLT)

Update #22 on Peter

I missed a day yesterday. I probably won’t post every day now. There is still great progress, but the measured progress we see in Peter doesn’t lend itself to regular updates.

I wish to apologize for a couple more graphic lines in the last update. I understand that each reader will have a different threshold as to the level of detail they want to read or can read regarding Peter’s accident, injury, and recovery. I did not wish to even approach that threshold and certainly did not intend to cross it, but I did. Peter’s story is sensational on its own, it certainly doesn’t need to be sensationalized and I apologize. I edited out the lines in question.

I saw Peter walk with a walker on Tuesday night and he was gripping it HARD and adopted a “surfing” style… with one foot in front of the other the whole time. On Wednesday afternoon, I saw him again and he using a style more like regular walking most of the time. It is hard to use a regular walking style with a walker anyway… but in less than 24 hours he was already making progress. It is clear that the biggest problem Peter faces with mobility is not physical strength or communication with the brain, but balance. Peter’s balance is definitely a big issue right now, but he is getting better all the time. He now sits up without support for long times (20+ minutes). For those who visit Peter, we encourage you to try to help him take a walk across the room or to the bathroom about once an hour.

One way to look at Peter’s recovery is to compare his current status with his status right after the accident. According to this scale, it is easy to see improvement. There is so much improvement, that even the word ‘improvement’ doesn’t capture the scope of the improvement. Chris Sanford saw Peter last Friday and saw him again yesterday and the improvement was very easy to observe.

Another way to look at Peter’s recovery is to compare to “the old Peter”. Peter, if you are reading this, you are not old although you walk like an old man now! Using this scale , it is more difficult to assess Peter’s recovery, but I think it is still possible. When we consider Peter’s daily improvement in some task or skill and then imagine continued progress for a period of days or weeks, “the old Peter” comes readily to mind. For example, if Peter’s walking improves over the next 10 days at the same rate as it did over the first day he was walking, we probably won’t be worried about his walking any longer. I’ve seen nothing that causes me discouragement when looked at in this way. Even Peter’s hearing is improving each day in at least one ear.

So, no matter which way you look at Peter’s recovery, there is much to be happy about and to celebrate. Peter knows he is still in for a bit of a fight to regain all of his pre-accident abilities, but he has shown great determination to do what it takes to recover as quickly and as fully as possible.

I don’t have more info at this time, but do want to mention that Peter took his first trip to rehab yesterday afternoon. He went to the other building in the wheelchair and he was to start working on strength in his left arm and maybe some walking, too. I’ll try to let you know more about this in a later update.

Update #21 on Peter

Two weeks ago today, all of the Team Expansion missionaries in Taipei met at 9AM at the Taiwan Christian Church Yonghe building for a presentation by our mission related to child safety.

It isn’t uncommon for Peter to be a little late for something, but usually we would hear from him if he was going to be late.

Craig called him, but Peter didn’t answer. We figured he was on his bike and didn’t hear the phone and would be there soon.

At about 9:20AM, our team was discussing whether or not it was realistic for missionaries to think that they had a right to expect special protection from bad things because they were serving God. I don’t think everyone spoke up, but those that did expressed that there was no such guarantee. Personally, I was shocked that anyone would believe such a thing, but apparently it is a common, if not prevalent, belief among missionaries.

During this discussion, Craig’s 17 year-old son called with news that Peter had been in an accident and that there was a police officer at their house waiting to talk to Craig. The police officer would not say more. Craig and I jumped on my scooter and drove to the apartment. The police officer still would not tell us any more about Peter, but only the hospital where Peter was taken. Unfortunately, he told us the wrong branch of the hospital and Craig and I spent many nervous minutes in traffic driving to the wrong hospital when we could have actually been at the correct hospital in about 3 minutes.

Fortunately, the church secretary, Joanna, had made some calls and figured out that Peter was actually at the closer hospital. She also found out that Peter had a major head injury. While Craig and I turned around to head back to the correct hospital, Casey and Allen came over to where Peter was taken and were the first to arrive. They were soon faced with the shock of seeing their friend and co-worker in agony. The only bit of good news was that Peter was moving his limbs. The rest of Peter’s co-workers arrived within minutes.

Craig and I were actually the last ones to arrive at the hospital. When we arrived, we immediately came into a room in the ER where doctors were looking at CT scans and X-rays of Peter’s head and upper body. The only life threatening injury they found was a large fracture on the back of Peter’s skull. We met Dr. Zeng and he suggested the intra-cranial pressure monitor. I then went in to see Peter. My wife, Angie, and I sang “Jesus Loves Me” although there may have been others there singing too.

Craig’s wife, Karen, had the important – but horrifying – task of notifying Peter’s mom and dad. During the next several minutes, many people were involved in things such as: the decision to put in the ICPM, the decision to move Peter to another hospital or remain here, recharging cell phone minutes, contacting Team Expansion’s prayer coordinator, etc. Each person shared the load.

But this story is about Peter and his God.

Right now, I’m sitting in Peter’s room listening to him speak fluently in English and Chinese to visitors. Yesterday, I said that his verbal abilities were about normal. I should clarify just a bit… his vocabulary is almost back to normal, but his rate of speech is probably about 80% of normal and occasional slurring of speech. This is not a concern, but just wanted to be clear about my previous statement.

In the last 3 hours, Peter has walked with a walker (he says he is like an 85 year old man) around the room and later used it to get to the bathroom. He took a ride in the wheelchair around to the other side of this floor where he could look out windows and see Taipei 101 and other buildings he would recognize. He stood with my help for about 10 minutes as I showed him some landmarks to help him get his bearings. I pointed to the intersection where the accident occurred. At this intersection is a Starbucks that Peter, Jen and Craig met at for weekly team meetings. He remembered these meetings and that he liked blueberry bagels from Starbucks. Seeing the city from the windows really helped him remember more of the city.

He is sitting up more and he is not so dizzy today. His balance is still a big problem, but that may improve with time and as he gets up and around more. He is concerned about his left arm because the shoulder bruise and pain. He can only lift it up about halfway but the right hand can go straight up. He was just showing this to Christy and Mimi and when he raised his left arm (halfway) he said, “Mr. McCain” and then he raised his right arm (all the way) and said “Yes we can”.

Peter is getting ready to eat some beef noodle soup for dinner. He’s teaching his dad how to eat it and encouraging his use of chopsticks.

I know there is still *much* room for improvement and still *much* uncertainty… but I can’t stop smiling right now thinking of Peter’s improvement and promising future. Tomorrow I may feel differently, but for now, I’m smiling.

Update #20 on Peter

This is the evening of the 14th day since Peter’s accident. In about 12 1/2 hours, it will have been 2 full weeks. Those scary first few hours linger in our minds, but Peter is recovering well and the future is promising.

My wife, Angie, and I just got off the phone with Peter. It is amazing to talk with him. He knows who we are. Jen Reynolds is there with Peter (as is Peter’s mom, Claudia) and Jen called to give me some updates and we asked to talk with Peter. I thought it was nice that upon greeting Peter he asked, “How have you guys been doing?”

Verbally… Peter is almost completely fine. Amazing. He still says a few interesting things… but they are more like things that Peter would normally say. For example, Jen was telling Peter about how she has been showing his mom how to ride the MRT (subway) and Peter said, “Jen knows the MRT better than anyone. If anyone knows the MRT better than me, it is Jen.” This is exactly something Peter would normally say.

Peter’s memory is coming back, but he still has trouble recalling many things. The best news is that he is able to recall things from all stages of his life and all the places he has lived. We have good reason to believe that his memory will continue to improve. Another positive thing about Peter’s memory is that he seems to be able to make new memories now. For example, he has no original memory of being hit by the car, but he does know he was hit by a car based on the information people are giving him the last few days. It might be good to try to teach Peter something totally new right now just for the purpose of seeing if he can retain it.

Peter’s balance is the most obvious difficulty (unless you count the 27 total staples in his head). Peter knows his memory is still poor at times and is even more aware of his problems with balance. He now understands that he is neither 1) on a boat; or, 2) in a spinning building. Tonight he told Jen that his “balanceability” is not so good.

I’ll mention hearing here since there may be a connection between his hearing and his balance. Peter says his right ear doesn’t hear very well, but his left ear doesn’t hardly hear at all. The doctor’s test indicate the opposite is more likely. Peter is able to discern right from left and is pointing at the ears as he talks about them so we are all a bit confused about what his hearing is really like. We do know that he seems to hear certain frequencies of voices better than others. He still typically hears men better than women, but some men he hears better than others. He hears me fine at a normal conversation volume when I speak to him in English, but he can’t hear me at the same volume when I speak Chinese.

Hearing and balance centers are both located in the inner ear. Both ears have sustained damage. We’ve been told that the nerves are damaged, but not dead. If they were dead, the hearing loss would be permanent. Since they are damaged, Peter’s hearing should improve (it is unknown to what degree) over the next 3 to 6 months. Will his balance be affected that long too? We don’t know. It make sense that both are damaged, but we don’t know the correlation, if any, of healing between the two.

Jen was telling Peter about Mr. Lin, the driver of the car that hit Peter, and that Craig told Mr. Lin about Peter’s love for Jesus and Peter’s desire for Mr. Lin to know Jesus too. Peter was able to see the good in this and then he told Jen, “I’m not ready to tell God, ‘OK, God, bring on some more difficulties!’ but I am ready to say ‘God, I’m thankful that you can find ways to use the difficulty.’”

Physically, Peter is improving. His head wounds are healing well. His left leg/knee where he was initially hit by the car is painful. His left shoulder sustained massive bruising from hitting the pavement. That arm moves well from the elbow down, but shoulder movement is really painful and difficult for Peter. Jen told Peter that she could slap him from that side and he couldn’t stop her because he only has 1/2 half of his ninja skills. Peter replied, “I’m going to have to work hard to get my ninja skills back." He has been playing catch for a few days already. His writing is improving. He can use the TV remote. All of these things add up to good progress. Hopefully his balance will clear up soon to give him more time on his feet.

Peter says that he feels like an old farmer. What? He said it is like he has put stuff away somewhere and when he goes back later to get it, he can't find it. It is like these things he needs are locked in the barn.

Claudia emailed me these pictures to share. They are from a couple days ago. Peter looks even better now. Click to see larger images.

Peter looking out over Yonghe with help from Roming.

Peter playing catch with my son, Zachary

Peter in the wheelchair the first time. He wasn’t as out of it as he looks. He was getting tired of posing… lol. From L to R: Scott, Zach, Jen, and Allen

Update #19 on Peter

I've had quite a day (unrelated to Peter's situation) so I'm going to rely on a recent update from Jen Reynolds and add a little at the end of her report since I just came back from seeing Peter.

FROM JEN:
Peter is starting to remember more things about the people who are visiting him, such as trips to the movies or out to ride bikes. I asked him why he was in Taiwan and he said 1) to study Chinese 2) to be a missionary. He remembered he lived on the blue line of the MRT but someone had to tell him what station was closest to his house. He gets frustrated because he can't remember names. He said it is like the names are locked in his brain and he has lost the keys.

When we asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom he said "I bet there's just people lining up to help with that job." It was nice to hear him use a little sarcasm.:-)

I was sitting by his bed working on a Bible study when he turned over and saw my Bible. He asked me what book I was reading so I told him it was my Bible and he could see it if he wanted. He took it and flipped through it and noticed Psalms. When I asked him what his favorite Psalm was he said "Psalm....2. No, Psalm 1." So I read it to him in English and Gary read it to him in Chinese. Then Gary showed him Psalm 23 and we asked him if he could read it. He tried but instead of saying it in English he kept trying to translate it into Chinese as he read. So Gary helped him read/translate it. After he was done he said "I like David's Psalms. They really encourage me."

When he ate supper he was able to feed himself with chopsticks using his left hand. I was surprised at how well he did. Tonight when Craig, Sam, and Jesse stopped by Peter knew who they all were and he knew that Peter Thompson was in America. He was telling them about the accident and he said "I got hit by some special sauce from a tornado or something." Then I told him it was actually a car, or maybe it was Craig. He said "Yeah, Craig probably hit me on purpose." Then he laughed and said it wasn't his suggestion that Craig hit him, it was mine. I asked him if he was trying to get me in trouble and he laughed again and said yes. It's so interesting because I feel like he knows me but doesn't remember me. Does that make sense? He knows how old I am and he said tonight that my Chinese is better than his, which is something he used to say before (which after hearing him speak this week might not be true!) and he knows I'm a missionary here but he doesn't remember that I'm his coworker. But at least he remembers my name now.

Today his friend Sally was there and when she would sit on his right side and talk in a normal voice Peter could hear her but when she would go to his left side he wouldn't be able to hear her.  I think that's really strange/interesting because he can't hear most of us on his right side but he could hear her. It has to be some kind of frequency thing. And he was able to pop his jaw back into place this afternoon when he would get lock jaw. So that's helpful if we don't have to call the doctor every 10 minutes!:-)

FROM SCOTT:
Peter now knows that he was in an accident. He understands that there is a reason for everything he is experiencing... the head wounds, the pain in his shoulder, the hearing loss, the dizzyness, the memory problems, etc. Although Peter talks about being in an accident and he talks about things "before the accident" and "after the accident" he can't remember anything about the accident although I have personally told him upwards of 10 times in the past week. He does remember soccer practice, Chris McCain breaking her arm, being very tired, and what we ate for lunch at my house on Saturday before his accident on Tuesday morning. That was the last time I saw Peter before the accident. If any of Peter's coworkers or friends saw him between Saturday afternoon and the accident, maybe you can ask him about that time and see if he remembers. We are curious where his memory stops.

Almost all the funny things Peter says now are on purpose... telling jokes and kidding around.

It was interesting to be in the room when Sarah and Dr. Peter visited Peter this afternoon. These two men named Peter are now connected forever, but had not met face-to-face until today. When we told Peter how Dr. Peter helped him, Peter was gracious as always. He is getting an idea of the scope of his injuries and the great effort put forth by many people to help him through this time. He is grateful.

Peter asked for his computer today. I want Peter to read this blog and your comments in his own time, but considering his progress to this point, he could be reading about his story very soon.

I have some pictures to share, but will have to wait for another update.

If I could take a bit of liberty with Peter's blog here... Taiwan is currently awaiting the arrival of at least 1 and maybe 2 typhoons in the next couple days. Typhoon Morakot caused a tremendous amount of damage back in August. People are frightened by these impending storms. Please pray for safety and peace here in Taiwan. Thank you. Bless you.