Visual Stimulation

Throughout Kevin’s illness, we have remained adamant about decorating the rooms where he spends most his time. In the hospital, we put up pictures of Kevin racing Giant Slalom and jumping off cornices at Kirkwood. The nurses almost always commented on these pictures and were amazed that the helmeted and goggled skier was Kevin. These pictures and conversations made the nurses realize who Kevin is and humanized him as a patient. Mom was extremely diligent about moving the posters and decorations from room to room in the hospital; when Kevin was transferred to the ICU, Mom was frantically taking things off the walls and figuring out how to sneak some pictures into the stricter unit.

Now, the living room where Kevin and Kathlin spend most of their time is covered with the birthday cards (278 total) you all have sent. The main point is no longer to show Kevin’s caretakers who he is—we all know Kevin. We now need to focus on showing Kevin how much support he has out there. So, every inch of wall space in the living room boasts a message of love and encouragement from at least one supporter, and often a whole family of supporters. We are simultaneously (and covertly) using this as an eye exercise. “Hey Kevin, remember that card (pointing to one on the far wall, in the corner so he has to move his eyes and refocus them) from so-and-so? That’s a great one…”

The symptom that Kevin continues to be most bothered by is the “bounciness” of his eyes. The nerves controlling the muscles that direct his eye movement were also affected by the tumor location. There was a time in the hospital when Kevin couldn’t move his eyes at all. At other points, one eye was significantly crossed. Kevin has now regained eye movement, but his control is far from perfect. Plus, spasms in the muscles that control his eyes create a bouncing effect. We encourage him to keep doing his eye exercises, but they are one of the least comfortable exercises for him to do. Unfortunately, this seems like a symptom that isn’t going to get better on its own, so we have to keep hounding him on the exercises. Getting him to read or focus on visual things is another form of exercise for those eye muscles. Kevin gets several magazines that keep his interest, so he exercises his eyes by looking at those. Also, we have just purchased the game “Apples to Apples” as something fun that requires a bit of reading (and has relatively large letters—he can’t read normal, small type just yet). Do any of you have suggestions for activities that involve reading big letters (large type novels are still a bit too much) or focusing his eyes?

Thanks to everyone for your continued support and encouragement!

P.S. The number 13 is special to Colgate University. As a result Colgate declares every Friday the 13th "Colgate Day". Happy Colgate Day to all!