Monumental Improvements! (6/3/06)
Hey there everyone. Today was a good Monday, no make that a great Monday in Chapel Hill!
Josh had a very good day. I felt like he made alot of progress today. Josh was able to stay off the ventilator for 4 hours today. I was very pleased. Hopefully tomorrow he will be able to stay off a little longer. Maybe 6 or 8 hours??? When he was off the ventilator he seemed pretty comfortable, but as it loomed around 4 hours he looked a little more restless so they placed him back on the ventilator until tomorrow.
Josh had a great day neurologically as well. During the middle of the day today he seemed the most alert that I have yet seen him through this whole ordeal. He kept his eyes open for quite a while today and he was looking around and tracking mom, dad, and I while we were talking to him. He also did many more new commands today. Lets see, he did his "a", "b", "c", an "r", and an "i" in sign language (selfishly I think he was trying to spell CARI!! but that is up for debate). He also did "yes" and "no" in sign language. He would open his mouth and stick out his tongue on command too. I don't think that Josh has lost his sense of humor either. Today dad asked him how he liked his mustache/goatee and instantly Josh stuck out his tongue. I laughed so hard. He did it four times because dad kept asking him to see what he would do. For those of you who don't know my dad this is something new he started since the day of Josh's accident and is continuing to do so until Josh completely wakes up. Way to go Josh! because I am not so fond of dad's new found hair. Dad is feeling pretty left out of "feeling the love" from Josh so I asked Josh to blow dad a kiss and he kind of puckered up and missed and spit. That was pretty funny too. By the third time Josh had blown us a kiss. For real!!! It also looked like he was trying to say words, but he just couldn't get that out. He won't be able to physically make words until the trach is able to be covered up or taken out, but he can mouth words if he wants. Josh is also making this weird growling type noise. Mom thinks that since that since he can't talk he is doing this instead. I don't have an answer for that one. Josh is getting there, slowly but surely. He also did the usual commands, but we are really excited over the new stuff. I guess that is about it, but whew, what a day.
The doctors are very pleased with Josh's progress and they believe it will only continue unless Josh were to get sick or get another infection which could set him back a little. For this reason please pray that he stays well and infection free. His nurses get just as excited as we do to see his progress. They have been awesome in taking care of my brother. His nurse today has said she knows that he must be loved because she has not seen anyone get so many cards and letters. He has over 80 cards (not to mention tons of pictures as well) on display in his room. They are lining the window sill and they have a domino effect if you knock one over. So thank you all for the love that you have shown to Josh and our family. We love you all.
Josh had a very good day. I felt like he made alot of progress today. Josh was able to stay off the ventilator for 4 hours today. I was very pleased. Hopefully tomorrow he will be able to stay off a little longer. Maybe 6 or 8 hours??? When he was off the ventilator he seemed pretty comfortable, but as it loomed around 4 hours he looked a little more restless so they placed him back on the ventilator until tomorrow.
Josh had a great day neurologically as well. During the middle of the day today he seemed the most alert that I have yet seen him through this whole ordeal. He kept his eyes open for quite a while today and he was looking around and tracking mom, dad, and I while we were talking to him. He also did many more new commands today. Lets see, he did his "a", "b", "c", an "r", and an "i" in sign language (selfishly I think he was trying to spell CARI!! but that is up for debate). He also did "yes" and "no" in sign language. He would open his mouth and stick out his tongue on command too. I don't think that Josh has lost his sense of humor either. Today dad asked him how he liked his mustache/goatee and instantly Josh stuck out his tongue. I laughed so hard. He did it four times because dad kept asking him to see what he would do. For those of you who don't know my dad this is something new he started since the day of Josh's accident and is continuing to do so until Josh completely wakes up. Way to go Josh! because I am not so fond of dad's new found hair. Dad is feeling pretty left out of "feeling the love" from Josh so I asked Josh to blow dad a kiss and he kind of puckered up and missed and spit. That was pretty funny too. By the third time Josh had blown us a kiss. For real!!! It also looked like he was trying to say words, but he just couldn't get that out. He won't be able to physically make words until the trach is able to be covered up or taken out, but he can mouth words if he wants. Josh is also making this weird growling type noise. Mom thinks that since that since he can't talk he is doing this instead. I don't have an answer for that one. Josh is getting there, slowly but surely. He also did the usual commands, but we are really excited over the new stuff. I guess that is about it, but whew, what a day.
The doctors are very pleased with Josh's progress and they believe it will only continue unless Josh were to get sick or get another infection which could set him back a little. For this reason please pray that he stays well and infection free. His nurses get just as excited as we do to see his progress. They have been awesome in taking care of my brother. His nurse today has said she knows that he must be loved because she has not seen anyone get so many cards and letters. He has over 80 cards (not to mention tons of pictures as well) on display in his room. They are lining the window sill and they have a domino effect if you knock one over. So thank you all for the love that you have shown to Josh and our family. We love you all.
posted by Brandon at
3:58 PM
1 Comments:
I Googled "Josh Chandler" just to catch up with him because I haven't seen him since school. Before that, I had tried emailing him at camp as I assumed he'd be working there again. I'm still not positive that this is the Josh i'm looking for, but by the looks of the other comments, it is. Please know that we are praying for the Josh represented by this blog and are comforted to see a family so reliant upon the gracious and merciful One True God of Heaven. May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to comfort and strengthen each person involved. I look forward to reading all about Josh's progress.
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Anonymous, at 4:52 PM
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