Thursday, February 21
Day 39

Yesterday was another "high" day with great forward progress.  John says it was because he slept so well the night before.  He also had a good long morning nap of about 2 hours with no interruptions.  I left here about 6 in order to meet Natasha at The Lodge so she could park.  Then we came back here for a couple hours till John was ready for bed.  She was amazed at his progress since she has not seen him since he came out of ICU, about three weeks ago.  We took a few pictures and I will post them here.

Last night, John's  chest hurt him, he coughed a lot, and therefore slept poorly.  And today, he does not feel as strong.  Our Physical Therapist was just here and first took him to the stairwell where John was able to go up about five steps.   Then he worked with John to build his leg muscles in order to help him to get up out of a chair or off the bed.  That was a good long workout and though John didn't feel clear or strong, he did very well.  The Therapist will note that he is able to go home and that some in-home Physical Therapy will be beneficial.  He will come back and work hard with John again tomorrow.

When John wanted some hot chocolate, we suggested that we walk to the machine.  He took his walker this time and we walked the distance there.  John sat down and rested and pretty soon was ready to walk the whole way back.  we will repeat that several more times today since these relatively "long-distance" walks will strengthen him the most, help his lungs to clear, and are the most therapeutic of anything.

Natasha is working on school work.  John is taking a one hour snooze.  I'm starting on my blog for the day.  Didn't do too well yesterday.

Two things we really desire:  good home-cooked food and good sleep for John.  Home is no doubt the best place for that.  Even our doctor said yesterday that he feels John is a good candidate to go home because he is motivated.  Some who go home, who have been progressing nicely here while doing the long hall walks, go home and do nothing but walk from their chair to the refrigerator and thus do not make good progress.  John, on the other hand, will not just sit.  He will work hard and will walk often and as soon and as often as he can, he will want to go outside to walk in the fresh air and sunshine.

Our Social Worker is working on all of our options this morning and plans to come and talk to us as soon as she has something to present to us.  This morning, they are waiting for the physical therapist's notes and the occupational therapist's notes.  A home plan is also being developed.  These notes will be read by our potential facilities and by our insurance company and together they decide what the best plan is for us.

We just bundled John all up in the wheelchair (first time!) and took him on a long ride through the covered walkways throughout this campus.  It was Natasha's first chance to see the area, too....I enjoyed it. 

We are looking forward to getting lots of snow with this storm!  it has already started and it is pretty close to whiteout conditions out our 7th story windows.  It's easy for us to want it cause we have NO WHERE TO GO!

Not until tomorrow at least!