Dear Blog Stalker(s): Update, April 17

Hello, friend.

Have you obsessively routinely been checking for updates here?  If so, I do apologize.  These days have turned into the "daily drag" of victories, setbacks, and steady, snail-steps forward (Wait, snails don't step, do they?  Hmm.).

When we last left our hero, he was working hard, feeling better and going out on the town.

Not sure if the previous virus was just that or the beginning of pneumonia, but no matter; he has the latter now and is back on the IV antibiotic chasers. (We are not sure of the cause, but it's possibly a result of aspiration from attempts at eating and drinking.) As a result, he has been relegated to tube feeds only; a bummer after previous culinary excursions.  Also pushed back (I'm full of asides today, but it always irritates me, that phrase "pushed back" -- it seems to me that if you're looking at a calendar, the way MY mind operates (visually) that moving something to a LATER date would be pushing it FORWARD.  Am I alone here?  I digress.)  is the removal of his trach, which was tentatively scheduled for earlier last week.  No dice; they want his lungs all healthy before they go fussing with that.  Bummer.

His coughing and .... ahem... that WORD ... is MUCH less.  I stayed the night Friday and he got a ton more contiguous sleep (save the &*@#&^ IV machine's beeps and the nurse's inability to make it stop) than he has in weeks.

His balance has improved.  His right side is still tingling/numb and his right hand lacks quite a bit of strength and fine motor skill.  We are not sure how much, if any, of normal function on that side will return, but what we DO know is that it has significantly improved since before surgery.  It's possible that the brain stem sustained permanent damage from the bleeding event, and it's (just as?) possible that as blood ebbs and swelling decreases that more improvements will come.  We just don't know.

As far as his return home: WE DON'T KNOW (common theme).  At this point the plan will be to have him come home, as opposed to a closer, in-patient rehab facility.  But seeing as he still has a trach and feeding tube, and now pneumonia ... the timing of all things is uncertain.  We just do the day-at-a-time deal.

Prayers: healing from the lung cruds.  Continued (encouraging) steps forward.  Trach removal at the earliest possible time, and stronger swallowing function.  If he can get the trach out, chances are the swallowing (and even chances for combating pneumonia?) will improve.  Then the feeding tube can go ... It's kind of an "if-then cycle".

I will endeavor to keep you posted on a more regular basis this week.  In the meantime, prayers on warming up the weather and calming the winds wouldn't be a bad thing, either!