the movie

spence presented part 1 of his video today at a continuing education program for nurses. it was a great ending to their day. the 2 subjects before him were courses on a lot of things he has gone through. his video put a life to the teachings. in fact one of the instructors used his case to illustrate a bunch of things. of course to protect the innocent she named him joe II who was 62.

at one point the director wanted to cut the video short to keep up with time constraints but was booed off. the video continued. as a pharmacist i have been to alot of these programs and i never been to one where the audience wanted to stay longer. usually it is a race to the door.

we ran into 3-4 nurses who knew spence from the icu at MGH and they were estatic to see him. They could not believe how far along he was in his recovery and how good he looked.

oh yeah, and a standing ovation from 200 health professionals ended it.

june 08,2008. 95 degrees and an indoor graduation. not bad though 479 students and over in 2 hours. the graduation seemed a little subdued, a combination of the heat and the passing of 2 brothers of their classmates. the ceremony started with a moment of silence for sgt. duffy brother of shannon duffy who was killed in iraq last week. mrs fagan read from her late son's diary (and brother of graduating senior james fagan). i hope a couple of reminders or a heads up to this years senior class of how short life can be.

anyway on to spencer robert nuttall. he made it to graduation being wheeled in by his brother with the help of guidance councilor ms. davis. (she is awesome)!! he walked the 10 feet from the ramp to receive his diploma. for the second time in a week he got a standing ovation. got to admit i had tears in my eyes as did many others! i don't think he realizes the inspiration he has become. it was only 3 months ago that he was sleeping in a hospital bed with a tent around it.

the awesome ride to the Prom/Prom Court

Spencer here, temporarily relieving dad of his duties as offical blog poster, lol, to let everybody know how I got to and from the prom on wednesday(see above picture [2nd/bottom one!] provided by ALANA [thank you, i did not take a picture of it, myself]).. As you can see, My friends and I rode in style in the beatiful, and spacious 26 Passenger, Party bus! provided by emerald square, and discovered by go to gal Erin!(Thank you much) :)  also, Special thanks to the driver, Tony, for letting mom and I practice getting in and out of the bus, a few days before the big day! during our journey to/from Indian Pond Country Club[where Prom was held, which  was beautiful I might add!], we got to watch Happy Feet on the two televisions inside, and listen to our favorite songs on various mix CDs. The best though was when Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was played through the bus's speakers and all 26 of us sang along(some sang poorly, myself included), and continued to sing, even though the cd skipped, and stopped halfway through, (right before the best part)! It was a Kodak moment, I wish someone had a video camera, and recorded it, because
as Scott Mosier's character in Clerks would say, "That's beautiful man!"  During the Prom, I was honored, when I became part of Taunton High School's first ever Senior Prom Court! If I recall correctly, I was only a few votes shy of Prom King, since, if my sources are correct, I was runner up to the king!  I got a Prom court sash and everything, which I wore, along with my top hat, the following day, during therapy at Northwoods! (See above [1st picture/top]for a picture of me all decked out with my sash, tophat,  and Prom Date/Amazing Girlfriend Brittany!!!)

prom 2008, a great time for all

spence made it to graduation practice today. they are having it in the field house because the outdoor facility is being redone. the stage and chairs could not be set up yet but he got a general idea of whats going to happen. before that though, is his senior prom on wednesday. limo is set,tux is set, shoes are shined (well not really on the shoes) but he is looking forward to it. we checked out the place on saturday and it is beautiful,going to be a little crowded though. the hostess told us there is 600 people attending. i think i am sneaking in the limo with my golf clubs,the golf course at the country club looks great.

spence saw his surgeon today,the one who put humpty dumpty back together again. he did not get the bone flap picture but was promised it would be emailed to him. he visited his grandfather while at MGH and passed on his lucky beads. his grandfather has his big surgery tomorrow and i think seeing how well and how far spence has come is a big comfort to him.

by the way the THS senior class and faculty ROCKS!! There are many facets to any major medical crisis. from the doctors stand point every thing is internal,whats his heart rate?,whats his cholesterol level etc,etc. then the external,how do we get this leg moving?,how do we get the arm to move,etc,etc. the one they overlook is the emotional, i have no doubt one of the biggest reasons for spencer's strength in his recovery is the support of his friends. at tonights award night the ovation he got was incredible. it showed him the whole senior class and taunton community were behind him. he was touched and no doubt will keep working hard.

when does it end?
spence went to mass general hospital, not for any tests,checkups, or appt.s but as a visitor to see his grandfather who had a stroke on sunday. the stroke was in a different part of the brain and not as severe but a stroke nonetheless. his grandfather went thru the same trauma unit (an omg for me as it brought back memories of 1/26) and is now on the same 12 th floor. not the same unit, with spence you got out of the elevator and went left and with his granddad you go right. when we arrived poppop was having a CT scan so we made our way to the ICU. He got to see the doctor who did the first surgery to bust up the clot,as well as Mr bone flap (DR Chen) they were amazed to see him. of course we had him show off by walking a few steps,they were even more amazed.
something myself and my mom both noticed was how poppop perked up when he saw spence. i guess a new bonding of the strokies. or a "hey spence i know what you've been thru and it sucks"
i just hope or i know spence will pass along his strength to his grandfather in his recovery!!
everyone's prayers and good thoughts has worked for spencer so lets add his grandfather (David A Nuttall Sr.) to them