Monday Update (6/26/06)

Josh had a pretty good day today. He started out comfortable and he is still following commands on a fairly consistent basis. Today he did squeeze hands, wiggle toes, blink twice, and thumbs up all on command. He did this for Bro. Dave Smith, his nurse and the doctor. This is the first time that the doctor has seen him do anything on command. Nice plus. They tried to turn down the ventilator but Josh seemed to get a little tired with everything going on today. He wasn't breathing as well as he had been (his respiratory rate increased and his volumes were not adequate) so they moved the settings back to where they were at the start of the day. I do not consider this a setback. We are asking so much of him right now and to add some ventilator changes can wear him out at the moment. Josh is continuing to hang in there!

Prayer request for tomorrow the 27th: Josh is going for round 2 - the trach and the feeding tube are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. They are going to do it at the bedside this time. They feel that keeping him on the same ventilator will curb any problems they ran into the last time. I am a little nervous because of our last experience, but they feel very confident that this is the best way. They tell me they do this all the time at the bedside. Don't worry, Josh will be completely sedated so he should not feel anything. I have peace about the trach and I think that it will really help in his progress neurologically. I'll keep you posted.

Josh did do something today that he has not done in the past. We asked him if he remembered the sign for "yes" in sign language. We reviewed it with him and he was able to correctly repeat this on command. He only did it once, but hey, we'll take it!

Thank you again for all of your prayers. We love you all.

Cari