{Karlton Bontrager}

Without the stimulation of therapists getting him out of bed and making him do things, Karlton sought a little stimulation of his own. Just before lunchtime yesterday he asked to get up to sit in the chair. Later in the day I asked him if he wanted to listen to music, and he said yes. This is the first that he has listened to music since his second week in the hospital. Various times we offered to put music on for him, but he didn’t want to hear it. But yesterday was different. He even whistled along with some of the songs that he knew well. Today he went even further. He asked to listen to one of the CDs that he heard yesterday.

Like an old man, Karlton has become overly concerned about his bowels. When he eats a meal, he talks about his next movement. And when he talks about going home, he says he looks forward to sitting on his own toilet in his own bathroom. (That’s certainly not prominent in my thinking about home!)

Karlton has a new parlour trick. We bend his left leg at the knee and prop it up with the support of a pillow. Then when all eyes are on him, he pushes his foot forward, and the whole leg extends dramatically. Come on, Karlton, do it again for us!

We’ve heard via the hospital grapevine that another young man from the United States is in intensive care because of a snow sports accident. Our sources tell us that the father is white, the mother is half Japanese, and the son was born in Germany. We’ve given them our contact information with an invitation to reach us if they would like to talk. How our hearts go out to them.