Christmas Eve Miracle

"So how are you today, Kevin?"

Kevin (not his real name) motioned for the other to wait until Kevin had finished swallowing his food.  That took about two minutes, after which Kevin suddenly said, "I'm fine, thank you."

"Did you have a good day?"

"I had a very good day."

"What did you do today?  I heard you had a Christmas party."

"Yes, a party."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh, yes, enjoyed it very much."

"Did you sing?"

"No, no, I didn't sing."

"Did you dance?"

"Yes, I did dance."

You may not think this is very much of a conversation, and you'd be right.  Except for one thing.  It was a whole conversation, which lasted another minute or so, between Demetrios and one of his most severely ill mental patients - who until now had not said a single word in more than 20 years.


UPDATES: 

More of the Conversation:

"What else did you do today?"

"I watched TV."

"Anything good on?"

"No, nothing important." 

"So what did you watch?"

"Soap operas."

Question to Night Nurse:

"Why are you giving me the extra pill?  Is it because I told you last night to check the file cabinet where my tax information was?"  (There was no file cabinet, and the patient now realized his mistake.  But no, the increase in medication is what has helped him this much.)


Motor capabilities re speech:  check.
Ability to speak in whole sentences:  check.
Coherent speech, making sense:  check.
Short-term memory:  check.
Ability sometimes to make appropriate value judgments (soap operas):  check.
Some insight into his condition:  check.
Willingness to interact with another person for a few minutes:  check.

How many valuable things one small conversation reveals!  Not to mention he has been able, all this time, to keep track of his medications, knowing when an extra pill was added.

Glory, glory, glory!