Wednesday July 22

Today, John was able to walk even better and further than yesterday. While I mentioned previously that he might have his other leg casted or possibly require splinting on both of his feet, it now appears that since he is taking steps (albeit assisted by a walker-type mechanism), he may not need either. The best way to describe what John is doing is similar to pushing a shopping cart through a grocery store so he should be quite adept at navigating the aisles of the H.E.B. near his home when that time comes. I hope he will pay particular attention to the seafood areas of the store because his fried catfish, shrimp and even boiled crab are second to none!

Suffice to say at this point that John continues to do incredibly well. I neglected to mention that John had the last of the tubes removed from his body two days ago. The last one was his feeding tube but he has been eating well and no longer requires supplemental feeding of any kind. His kidneys have healed beyond any of our wildest expectations and he is not receiving any intravenous medications and his body is healing well from the tube wound sites. He takes needed pills orally now and will continue to get necessary medications while at TIRR and will receive nutrients and other medications the same way the rest of us do...with a big cup of water! He will also continue to get daily visits by physicians and therapists and we continue to put great faith in their accute abilities and so far have been nothing but impressed.