Hi everyone - I managed to get an extra 2 days in London before my business meetings this week, so we visited Chris on Sunday. The weather was nice and sunny so we took Chris to the pub nearby and had our lunch outside together. Chris certainly does not lack an appetite - he ate 3 large sausages and big portions of mashed potatoes and assorted veggies. The wind picked up a bit, so we returned to the Jacob Center. Koo cleaned Chris’ teeth and then I tried the “10 question” quiz on Chris where yes/no questions are asked to see if Chris responds correctly. To be honest, it was hard to say whether Chris was responding to the questions with an appropriate nod or not. It did seem clear, however, that Chris realized I was posing questions to him that required some type of response. He seemed to pay closer attention to me when I was reading the questions off the paper & that some type of acknowledgement on his part was being asked. It was just too tricky to say that he understood the questions and if the nodding of his head was purposeful. As Koo has stated in one of her past entries, Gabriel really enjoys this quiz with his Dad and is quite the cheerleader! Speaking of Gabriel, he was so well behaved the entire day for a boy barely 5 years old. He has grown so much in the last year and has a strong British accent. He is adorable. I do agree that Chris seems to respond very favourably to Gabriel and truly enjoys seeing him. When we were leaving, we decided to leave Chris on the 1st floor hallway area where there were Nurses and aids much more engaged with the patients compared to those on the 2nd floor.

Last time I saw Chris was at New Year's and this is the first time seeing him since his 2nd stem cell wave in China in March/April08. I think it was pretty much a similar visit in terms of progress report from about 6 months ago. Chris is very emotive and in better spirits than a while back. I wish his response to command was more deliberate. It seems he wants to respond, but is not yet there. Lots of hope and prayers that he progresses on this front in the near future.