Updates: (11/22/2025)

Today was a little tougher, both for Eli and for us.

When we arrived at his room around 9 this morning, he was extremely disoriented. He was struggling to stay awake and was unable to answer our questions coherently. Much of what he was saying did not make sense, which was definitely concerning. He also had not eaten breakfast yet and had not received any pain medication since 11 p.m. the night before.

Once his breakfast arrived about an hour later, we helped him sit up and encouraged him to eat a little. He has been extremely frustrated about the neck brace and tried multiple times to remove it.

I forgot to mention earlier that he has a sitter with him at all times. The person in the room changes every few hours, but someone is always there to make sure he does not hurt himself, such as trying to take off the brace or get out of bed. They will continue this until he is no longer a safety risk.

After breakfast, he began to wake up a bit more. He kept insisting on lying back down and trying to fall asleep, which we are trying hard to prevent. It is very important for him to stay awake during the day to help his brain and body recover.

As we spent more time with him, he became slightly more lucid. We put on Harry Potter and I asked him a lot of questions about the movie and other films we love to try to keep his mind active. He was able to engage more, which was encouraging after such a difficult morning.

He is feeling a bit discouraged today. Last night, the nurses attempted to get him out of bed to use the bathroom, but he fell while trying to stand afterward. This clearly shook his confidence. He kept saying things like, “I can’t walk, it’s really bad,” so we spent a lot of time trying to lift his spirits and remind him that getting back to full strength will take time, hard work, and patience.

We were also a little frustrated that he was asked to stand last night, as he has not stood at all since the accident and we believe the nurses may not have realized that. For now, they are using a bedpan instead. Thankfully, physical therapy should begin working more intentionally with him on standing and mobility.

We are hoping that tomorrow he will finally be able to have his catheter removed. They attempted to remove it a couple of days ago, but he was retaining urine. He has been on medication to help correct this, so we are hopeful it can come out soon so he can be more comfortable and begin moving around more easily.

Around noon, my parents took me to the airport so I could fly back to Denver. They are planning to take the rest of the afternoon off. Lindsay is staying with Eli, so he is in great hands.

One of his first nurses told us that recovery would not be linear and that there would be both good days and hard days. Today was one of the harder ones. We are doing our best to remember that and to stay hopeful that tomorrow will be better. ❤️