Wednesday 8/12

They have worked Justin hard today!!!

He had his Unit guys stop by for about an hour this morning then he was off to PT/OT.

His spasm meds will make him drowsy for the first few days until he gets used to it but he's been dozing almost everytime we've gone up there. He was back in his room for 12:00 lunch but napped until 12:52, woofed down 1/2 his lunch to make his 1:00 class.

2:00 mini-break found him cat-napping again then he was off for a 3:00 workout. At 4:30 we finally got him up, had a bacon burger for supper and while he wasn't able to eat his grapes with his fingers, he did manage to do some of his fries by himself (ketchup dipping and all). We're doing a meal pass tomorrow night which means he gets to go to the cafeteria with us.

He said they put him on the lift table which is something to do with giving him the feeling of standing again. It's been 6 weeks since he's known what it feels like to stand and he can get to 40% before his BP starts going down. They pushed him to the point of his dropping down to 68/21--he said he felt that, almost passed out.

Spent some time in the real Secret Garden, which is pretty. then hung out with some other patients in the rec room. He's starting to show signs of wanting to try the pool table and he & dad are going to try to find a glove to help him (one other than what TR provides, no one could figure out how to work that thing even with a guide sheet with pictures---go figure).

He's hard at it again tomorrow but he's getting him some home-made, straight from Cajun country gumbo on Friday---yummy!! We hope to get some more pics tomorrow, especially of him in PT/OT/TR--one of them is supposed to get him on the weight machines. He said 3 hours straight of this stuff works his arms so hard he can't use them for an hour or so afterwards (I call him a 'wimp', just in fun).

We got to see his neck from where the traech was--Nurse Erica said it's healing up good. Dad got a picture but it's on his cell phone and we don't have a way to load that to the laptop so that one will have to wait (hope none of you are queasy--it's not that bad but it does show what he's gone through and how far he's come).

When we left him, he said he was heading back out for some "Hotlanta" night air to relax with some music. I told him not to fall asleep out there, someone might try to take him. He said they would bring him back so he wasn't scared (ha ha).

Love to you all. We continue to have our faith and belief, as does Justin. Appreciate you all and expect to be back in Sweet Alabama next week (leaving Justin here, of course and will try hard not to worry but I've been told he's in great, capable hands).