One week ago today

Sorry no post yesterday. It was a BUSY day. Jon's first night in the new facility went pretty well. It is much quieter here. We had some hiccups first thing in the morning, a few things that didn't make either of us very happy. I'm sure a year down the line, they will be the things we laugh about, but at the time, there wasn't much to laugh about.

I had to leave early to make it to Jacob's end of year awards, so Occupational Therapy came in while I was gone. They worked with him some in the morning, and hopefully he had a good session. The afternoon brought physical therapy, and he worked VERY hard! He's frustrated at the pace - still not having any movement on the left side. But we continue to tell him to take some pride in the small steps. He was able to hold his hips up, which is good. I'm sure he thinks he should already be able to hold his leg up, but it's not going to come that quickly. For those of you who know Jon very well, it's not surprising that he's frustrated with having to just sit around so much. He wants to just jump up get going, but it's not going to work that way. Mickey Kerr sent us well wishes and had an incredibly valuable statement - Win Each Day! That is exactly what we are going to do. And we will determine what those wins are. They will be small wins, but wins none the less. So thanks Mickey. Those are great words to live by!

He spent most of the day out of bed and in the wheelchair, which was good for him. It's tough, because he's still so tired, but they encourage him to get out of bed as much as possible, to help build up his strength and just to keep him moving. They come in and get us up at 5:30!!! Then we just sit until breakfast at 7am. Not sure why we have to get up so early.

Last night they decided they needed to turn him in bed every two hours, so that made for a fun night. But I think he was able to go back to sleep after they came in.

Today we look forward to more OT and PT, which will be good. And we are hoping to finally see the speech therapist to see if he can "pass" his speech test so he can switch to a new diet. The "mechanical soft" diet (which is code for YUCK) is getting a bit old.

Now that we are pretty well settled in, I'm sure Jon would love to have visitors. He's pretty busy during the day with his therapy, so 6pm on is usually a good time. And weekends will be good. He will have therapy Saturday morning, but his afternoon should be open. And Sunday will be good. So if you are wanting to visit - come on down! Thanks for being patient with us!

Now for the philosophical part. It was just one week ago that our lives changed more than either of us could have ever imagined. It seems like a month ago! Last Friday he was playing golf, playing video games with our son, and getting ready for a nice dinner and some quiet time at home. It took only about an hour and a half, and we went from family time at home, to a visit to the ED, stay in the ICU and new digs in a new hospital. No one could have seen it coming. But we do know that in many ways, despite what we went through and what we are facing, we are very blessed. Jon is still Jon. That sense of humor we all rely on is still there, and he's better at remembering who is nurses are than I am. We are fortunate for that, and obviously fortunate for the support we have. We know there are others who faced similar situations who had no one to lean on, and we can't imagine facing that. So again, thank you for your friendship and kindness.