Update on Athelstan

[Logical Language Group <cbmvax!uunet!grebyn.com!lojbab>]

Update on Athelstan - to friends (Glenn please distribute widely) and lojbo

Athelstan was released from rehab hospital last Friday after over 4
months in hospital.  He then had some minor outpatient surgery to
correct a problem resulting from his time in intensive care, and still
faces one more surgery to put a steel plate to cover the small hole in
his skull made to release pressure from the blood clot.  He also faces
nearly total replacement/reconstruction of his teeth, most of which he
has lost.  Luckily, he has Medicaid and expects some Social Security
Disability payments, but contributions from his friends will be used to
cover much of the thousands of dollars of dental fees.

He has gone to stay with his (retired) parents in Baltimore, who are
capable of giving him the nearly full-time supervision he needs. 5 days
a week he will be in outpatient therapy at Sinai hospital in Baltimore
all day.  This is expected to continue for at least 6 months, but
possibly for up to 5 years.

After having plateaued in his recovery for several weeks, the setting of
his release apparently resulted in a burst of progress, and he is doing
much better than he was a month ago, though progress is better noticed
on a week-by-week than on a day-by-day basis.

Athelstan has now discovered the great limitations on his abilities and
has to some extent adapted to them.  His dad reports that he spends a
little time studying Lojban, then falls asleep; a while later he might
study some Greek, again for a very short time.

I expect that he will be making an appearance at LogFest, our Lojban
gathering, on August 15th, which is when I will next see him.  We will
be prepared for him to stay the weekend, but expect that his abilities
and attention span will likely limit the visit to only a few hours.

The doctors have stressed strongly that given the extent of his injury,
Athelstan is likely to have to lead a very structured and disciplined
life, probably for the rest of his life - it appears that his
adaptability to unexpected situations is likely to be impaired,
especially when he is stressed - hence he must regularize as much of his
lifestyle as he can, so he can put his full mental resources to work on
other than the ordinary processes of living.  This is quite the opposite
from the way he has been used to living, and will undoubtedly take a
long time to get used to.  All of his friends are encouraged to do what
they can to aid him in this process.  If he can do this, the doctors say
that he has an excellent chance to live independently and to regain most
or all of his unique abilities, though the process may take months to
years.

lojbab
lojbab@grebyn.com