Monday June 22

I've recently (last night!) learned to add pictures to the blog so i will be adding as many as possible from now on. I think it's really important to visually remind ourselves daily of the virile, life loving, passionate person John is and I have been able to find some photos which I think illustrate these aspects of his personality. The above photo was taken the weekend before he had his heart attack. His brother, Raymond is on the left and their mom, Paulette is in the middle. I didn't know that John's color is orange but then again, I haven't seen him in many colors that don't favor him! He even looks good in whichever hospital gown he might me donning on a given day.

There haven't been many substantive changes in John's condition. He does have his eyes open and seems to respond to voices somewhat but not on command. He also brings his hands up toward his torso and sometimes does the same with his feet and his head. A hundred physicians could evaluate John and give a hundred diagnosis but the bottom line is, when it comes to the brain there are no certainties. We look at this as a positive and hope that his brain is staying in his "safe place" for as long as necessary. His kidneys continue to falter in that they are consisitently unable to remove the necessary amount of impurifications from his blood to not require dialysis. For John, the dialysis provides a necessary and life sustaining force which does not cause pain and is done at his bedside.

Holly has negotiated with hospital staff and it looks like John might be receiving a special canine visitor soon. Each night when Holly gets home the dogs run to her and smell her and they know she has been with John and you can just see the envy in their eyes. Holly and John have three Boston Terriers, Haley, Harley and Gracie and I'm pretty sure each of them is chomping at the bit to give John some licks. The other picture above was taken the same day as the one aforementioned one and is of them with Paulette's Boston, Chanel (like the perfume!) I should mention that there are few family events occurring which do not require a veritable portfolio of dog pictures as well as people photos...they are our family members and they are treated as such.

I want to say how appreciative we are of the respect and support you all have shown for Holly and the family during this time. Holly is able to spend concentrated, uninterrupted time with John without feeling stressed about returning calls and emails and I gather up information from her or other family members or personal observation and present it here. I continue to give you my word that as updates occur, they will appear here first! We have come to realize that we may need to wait a bit for John. Sort of like waiting on a delayed flight of someone you absolutely cannot wait to see. All I can say is that he can stay in his holding pattern as long as he needs to and we will sit patiently on the chairs in the airport near the luggage carousel. Anxious for what we might say or how tightly we will hug him when he comes through that gate from whatever fantastic jouney he might be on.