Day Eighteen - Good Communication

Jerry and I got here late last night, we visited Dick for about and hour and a half and he was pretty tired and slept most of the time. But today is a different story. He has been awake most of the day and he has been opening his eyes often and is asking a lot of questions.

His doctor came in this morning and explained what changes they have seen in his progress that will allow him to be moved to Illinois. First he is no longer considered a neuro patient which is the best news. Next he needs to be off the ventilator which he has been off of and has only been getting pressure support to just help fill the lungs. He has actually been breathing on his own for the biggest part of t0day and has been doing well. And the last thing they want to be sure of is that he is coughing good to keep the pneumonia that he does have from getting worse and that is going well too. His doctor actually said that he was one of their success stories. Way to go Uncle Dick!

They have been rolling him from side to side to give his backside a rest and he is letting them know when he is ready to lay on his back again. He actually sat up enough this morning that he was looking out the window. Jer and I keep telling him he needs to work at keeping his eyes open and he is doing his best, although sometimes he has to hold his eyes open with his hands he is working hard at getting the challenge met.


He has been writing notes to us - he has asked if we have talked to Mike and he was concerned if Mike was getting all the right information. We assured him that Mike and Amy have done a wonderful job of taking care of everything and that he would be very proud of them. He has asked if we have seen the orders for his move to Chicago and he has asked what day this is and how long he has been here. It is difficult at times to read his writing and decipher his hand signals but we are getting better. He sometimes gets frustrated with us and scratches through his writing and has to start all over again trying a different approach to his thought. This is such a giant leap forward and is very exciting.

Tonight while he was on his side he noticed the buttons on the rail of his bed. I thought he was asking if he could lower the rail and he was actually asking how to lower the bed. He pointed at the buttons and then motioned down. I showed him which button lowered his head and raised it and which lowered his feet and raised them. He started testing them out. He raised his head and lowered it and he raised his feet and lowered them. I asked him if he felt like he was in control now and he gave me a big smile.

After our conversations today I can tell that he is ready for some serious physical therapy and he is ready to head to Illinois. Cold as it may be there he will be warming many hearts.

One last note. I showed Dick a slide show of his kids & his grandkids tonight ....talk about a happy heart! I have never seen him smile so big.