Thursday June 18

John went through a barrage of new tests today and that coupled with the move to the new environment seemed to really wear him out. I think I mentioned a few days ago about taking a step forward and then hitting the plateau. I was talking with a friend today about this and she made the magnificent point that we all do this! It is true that we have good and bad days and we figure that John is on the same schedule.

There was a parade of physicians and therapists through John's room today evaluating him and getting him started with some new therapeutic techniques. He also received dialysis. His kidneys are producing more but they still want to help them by removing any additional toxins which might be present in his blood. His white blood count has gone down some which is good and may indicate that his body has begun to appropriately fight whatever infection has been plaguing him. The level of care at Triumph has been great so far and the fact that so many specialists will be working with him can only be a good thing. Over the next few days, we anticipate that he will continue having further tests to determine what we can do to help him and see the potential progress the future might hold.

Holly and Paulette installed the bird feeder without a hitch and the staff and John seem to be enjoying it very much.

Tomorrow, more physicians will be meeting with John and he will be having physical therapy, and even speech therapy which will hopefully get him on the right track with swallowing on his own and keeping his airway clean. He has from the moment he opened his eyes enjoyed having his mouth cleaned and Holly does this for him frequently. She also shaved his head and face again today and although he slept through most of the pampering, we know that he enjoys being clean. He may have thought in his safe place that he was at a fancy spa! They have decided to wait a bit on putting tennis shoes on him because they want to be able to watch his feet to make sure pressure points don't arise. The good news is that he still has an air bed and his fluffy shoes to help him along with the healing process. In the meantime, we will continue to support him when he is restful and when he is active and while we get excited when he progresses, we temper our excitement and simply enjoy seeing him doing better.