Tuesday August 18

Recently, John received a card signed by his co-workers and this is the action photo of him reading it! We make sure that he sees every card sent to him and try to keep him up-to-date on all emails as well. John loves to read portions of the newspaper or look at magazines too. He has a stack of them to catch up on and the paper provides information which might help with his short-term memory.

One of the things we have realized about hospitals in general is that we really have to stay diligent about making sure John is well-cared for. While we believe that throughout this process, John has received some great care, there have also been times when we are left scratching our heads and wondering what people do who don't have family or loved ones to help look after them. As with most industries, treatment centers are understaffed and nurses are overworked. We were exceptionally lucky in the beginning because John was in Intensive Care for so long and had almost constant attention from nurses and physicians. The transition to less intensive care is difficult but very necessary to help patients become more independent but it can also be hard because we still want someone checking on John constantly when we cannot. Obviously, we can't be with him 24 hours a day and this is good because he needs to rest and he also needs to interact with staff without us around so that they may appropriately evaluate him but it is hard to leave. It does make me sad to see some patients who don't seem to get visits from family and friends and I simply cannot imagine making such a journey alone. We have been lucky to establish allies in this process amongst other family members and we have sort of a neighborhood watch program going on so that if one of the patients need something we can be their voice and it is also wonderful to be able to talk with other family members who are in situations similar to ours.

John continues to progress and gets more alert as each day passes. Sometimes the change is small and sometimes it is big but there is change and we are grateful.