August 11th

Dad is still moving in the right direction. He is VERY alert now and staying awake most of the day. Loves to watch ESPN. The Nuero team finally figured out that he won't "perform" when 6 of them come in but he will if one or two of them come in alone. That is so my Dad. He hates crowds. They make him nervous. Glad to see that part of his personality is still intact. Yesterday they got him out of bed and into a chair. I had left already but my mom said he really seemed to enjoy that. He didn't even mind his helmet. He will need to wear that when he is out of bed and/or doing physical therapy until they replace the bone flap that they removed to make room for his brain to swell. They will put that bone back eventually. It makes me sad that they will need to cut him again---especially now that the area is all healed and his hair is growing back. Seriously though, isn't modern medicine amazing? It blows me away the things these Doctors are capable of.

Just keep praying for his respiratory health. I know getting that trach out will be a HUGE step in his recovery process. In order for that trach to come out he needs those secretions to go away. In order for that to happen he needs to be doing deep breathing, moving around and coughing strong. All those things that we do, w/out giving it a second thought, to keep our lungs clear.

Yesterday his Doctor mentioned rehab again and said that if they can get his respiratory care in order he may go as soon as this week. We still aren't sure where he is going at this point but this will be so good for him. He needs to get busy. No more lying there watching t.v. This will occupy his mind and motivate him. He is very emotional right now, as you can imagine. I can see it's very easy for him to shut his eyes and "tune out".........BUT I think he will thrive at rehab. I am so excited to see continued progress.

As always, thanks for your continued thoughts & prayers!

xo