Sunday June 28

Sometimes in our lives things get cluttered. We worry about work or our house or cars or finances and we begin to focus on things which seem paramount to our existence. Then something happens which brings us to present or makes us realize that the things we felt so important even the day before aren't so prominent and really aren't all that significant in the big picture. I get to come home at night and enjoy a quiet meal or perhaps work on tasks that need to be accomplished but always have my phone handy just in case I need to be contacted. I'm not sure I did this before and I am old enough to remember the days before cellular telephones and somehow we made it work. I am remembering the first frantic phone call from Holly when she told me that, "They are doing CPR on John and you need to come now", and I remember asking her where to go and her telling me a hospital on Huffmeister and 290 and somehow knowing where to guide my car. I am grateful for the technology and her ability to contact me so quickly and felt again reassured when I received a similar phone call the next morning. Now, I don't do anything without my phone in my pocket and no longer put it to silence mode or even vibrate mode for fear that I might miss a phone call or a distress signal. I am not looking for flares or smoke signals but at the same time, I don't rest easy and know that at any time I might need to get in my car and get to John and Holly fast or respond like an EMS unit and I am ready to do so.

Today, John continues to do the things we have hoped for. He ate an entire container of Jello and is drinking quite regularly from a straw and forming some words. Holly spent the majority of the morning with John and then went to worship at her church. She then returned to the rehabilitation center and spent more time with John and his mom in his room. In the meantime, Honeygal and I went to the store and bought mine and Holly's favorite meal, snow crab, and brought it home to cook and Holly returned home later in the evening. I noticed that she also cannot be far from her phone and the possibility of triage of events which might occur if needed. She cannot relax and feel comfortable coming home without leaving a barrage of instructions for family members and staff and it helps when she gets updates from both parties.

It seemed so apparent to me today and previously that the reality that what our daily lives has been, inexorably and infinitely changed on June 2, 2009. It's hard to imagine that we rapidly approach the four week mark because I must say that it seems so much longer in some ways and also unbelievable that it's only been a month in other ways. Today, we were able to reflect on the past several weeks events and although it must seem unbelievable to those of you reading this who know John, it is equally unbelievable to us. We strive for understanding and for acceptance in this situation and hold our phones close as a way to try to have control over the uncontrollable.

I made a huge mistake today while at Holly's house which I feel compelled to confess. Holly and I were sitting in their front yard on the tailgate of her truck and I noticed that the flag pole which I mentioned previously here on the blog was leaning. Well, in my fervor to try to fix it I actually snapped it at the base which then caused me to fall flat on my butt in the wet grass and then do a sort of stop, drop and roll maneuver to get out of the way of the falling pole! I should mention that the pole is aluminum and probably wouldn't have hurt but I guess my reactions got the best of me. I must also say that this caused Holly to laugh so hard I thought she might cry or worse but it was that laugh that leaves you unable to speak or even form complete sentences and was completely warranted! I broke flag protocol because the United States flag actually did land on my foot and probably the ground too but I promise I jumped up and grabbed it as quickly as possible. Turns out that John felt obliged to bury it in about 40 inches of concrete...thank you to neighbors Johnathon and Jeff for digging out the quickcrete and fixing the lawn! Johnathon's tennis shoes will never be the same but it was a pure cause and he was fast to offer a hand to take care of the problem.

Tomorrow begins a new week of a fury of doctors and therapists coming in to see John. He will probably undergo dialysis but considering it has been a couple of days since his last session and the fact that he is now drinking more on his own, we hope that his kidneys will start doing more on their own. We are hoping that soon John might be released from ICU which might indicate a level of stability that we have not seen so far. He has been extremely susceptible to infection and other problems throughout but we hope that he will continue to progress in strength medically and physically and so far we have seen nothing to contradict this. We remain guarded, cell phones handy and know that each and every person out there who knows and loves John is hoping and praying unabashedly for his full recovery and we are doing the same.