Austin Hatch update for August 7: He's working hard
The Hatch family posted this on CaringBridge earlier today. It seems to preclude the possibility that Austin is still in a coma as was reported in the article Brian linked to last week.
Sunday, August 7th, 2011 3:55 PM
It does seem to suggewst that he is out of his coma, but wouldn't they be more specific, such as Austin is speaking/talking about going back onto the court, feeding himself, etc...you know, specifically refering to landmarks in his recovery...I am afraid he is still in it, but I hope with all hope that I am wrong...
Get well soon my man
I take the vagueness of the posts as being meant to give him some privacy. The family mentioned OT, PT, and speech therapy two weeks ago.
You do OP and PT for patients that are in a coma as well.
Actually, after reading your post a second time it seems that I may have misunderstood what you meant and if so I am sorry. What I think you are saying is that since he is having OT and PT than he must be out of his coma and my point is just that we would do that for a patient in a coma as well (you just do the work for them). If I misinterpreted your post I apologize.
And I appreciate the info. Could they be doing speech therapy for him too?
August 8th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
That would involve a person being conscious, so if there were reports of him receiving speech therapy he must be out of his coma.
Unfortunately I don't think that he'll be speaking about getting back onto the court anytime soon. I'd settle for speaking about anything.
If ever a kid needed a break, it sounds like Austin does. It sems like his recovery will be very long in coming. Some of you docs/med students might want to weigh in, but from what you could gather from the press clippings, he was in an induced coma for quite some time and must have suffered very significant head trauma.
I am a Cardiologist so I don't specialize in Neurology, but the information that is being provided by the family leads me to believe things aren't going as well as I originally hoped. They are keeping everything close to the vest so I can't say for sure, but the tone of their press releases seem a little weird.
Again, I agree that there just isn't enough information available to make any sort of guess as to how things will transpire at this point.
August 7th, 2011 at 10:57 PM ^
and the "hard work he has accomplished thus far" are encouraging, but have to be weighed against the "long road" he has in front of him. So many people have taken an interest in his story (a whole slew of new guest book entries since the ESPN feature), it's great that his family are protecting his privacy so carefully at the same time that they keep the posts up for those interested in his progress. They're trying to be hopeful and realistic at the same time, and obviously being enormously supportive.