Thursday June 25

The top photo is of John (cool John, that is) at his nephew RayRay's baseball game. Below that is a picture of niece Sydney, Holly, RayRay and John at RayRay's birthday party.

I had the awesome opportunity to spend some time with John today at the hospital and it was an eventful day. Early this morning, John received some physical therapy which included putting him into a chair. Seeing him sit upright was really great and his eyes were wide with excitement when they put him in this position. Soon after, the surgical team came in and took him to place his dialysis port in a different area. This is a really good thing because the the original port was appearing blocked and might have been part of the reason he was needing dialysis so frequently. Additionally, John's hemoglobin dropped a bit so they will also be giving a unit of blood back to him from a generous donor. Hopefully this will strengthen him and also boost his immune system.

Susan left a huge batch of candy with me with explicit instructions to place it in John's room. She has been in a similar situation and said that the candy jar brought all kinds of attention to her loved one and made staff ever-present in his room. We have already seen the effects of this and the entire ICU area knows about this new development and has been taking advantage of it. She also brought some European lip balm which smells like fresh oranges and is helping to keep John's lips soft and supple! We are consistently amazed with the creative ideas people present who might have been in a similar situations or simply care so much.

With some coaxing from Holly, John was able to eat some applesauce and pudding today. She puts it on his tongue and soon after he closes his mouth and swallows. I know this seems like a simple thing but he is really enjoying the different flavors and every mouthful seems to feel like a surprise to him. She plans to bring a Big Red soda to him tomorrow (high on his list of favorite drinks) and he seems to enjoy the texture and variety of drinks and foods he is given. Once again, it seems simple but to see him close his mouth and swallow seemed unimaginable less than a week ago.

Not to get too preachy here but some really valuable information has come to us in this process which I really feel compelled to share the following links (Click on the organization in grey for the link):

The American Heart Association provides training (locally wherever you are) in CPR and cardiac problem recognition:

American Heart Association

We know that the time we spend with John currently is largely because of Holly's quick response coordinated with CPR including rescue breathing and chest compressions. There are also many stores, malls, and other places of gathering which have the AED devices which are explained on this site and you can receive training with them too. Holly had annual CPR training as a flight attendant and it is apparent that these skills kicked in when John needed it. She also received help from Monica who quickly called EMS and started compressions. It is hard to imagine having to perform CPR on a loved one but this gives them the opportunity for survival.

The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Bank supplies area hospitals and trauma centers with a quality assured, type-specific blood supply. It turns out that each day, they must collect 1,000 units to serve the Houston area alone, and each donation can help up to three people who need it:

Give Blood

There are also blood centers in every major city and most hospitals will accept blood donations.