Saturday March 22 and Sunday March 23

Forgive me for being a day behind on the blog but since every day feels like 2 in this alternate reality, I am right on schedule ;)

Saturday was our first mostly normal day - not filled with any big changes for better or for worse.

When the herd of rounding doctors came around in the morning, they invited me and Tim to participate in the discussion. (I think they could tell that by the way we were standing in the doorway we were gonna jump in anyway) But listening to their report we were relieved to hear a head-to-toe assessment that didn't involve any red flags. They even showed us, with much amazement on their part, his chest X-ray and said "This is the best we could hope for for any patient that has been on a vent as long as he has!"

Dad indicated to me and Tim that he had something to say. While Tim called out letters, I wrote down the following message to Tim:

"I am so glad and proud of the way you have stepped as the patriarch of our family"

Through tears, Tim was able to assure him that he had learned from the best and was only carrying that job for a short while until Dad was able to resume his duties. It was such a gift to be able to hear from him in this way.

Emma, his 2nd oldest grandchild, was able to visit with Poppa Choo Choo in the afternoon.

Tim and I visited the 3rd facility and were able to give Mom a thumbs up. If the insurance hoops get jumped through, transfer is still scheduled for Monday.

Kristy, my sister, stopped by to visit in the evening and sweetly brought 3 key rings and helped Mom organize all of her new keys. She also offered her mad computer research skills and will be keeping a file on support groups and other positive stories for when we are ready to hear them.

One rather new development is the way Dad feels like he is not getting enough of a breath on the ventilator. The respiratory therapists checked his settings many times and always assured him that his oxygen levels are good. They explained to him that this anxiety is probably caused by the fact that there has been a noticeable increase in him initiating spontaneous breaths on his own and that is probably an uncomfortable sensation. His muscles are remembering how to work again and it feels like he can't get a deep enough breath. This is a good thing.

Tim stayed with Dad through the night and said that Dad slept pretty well. He woke up at 2:30 and wondered what time it was and then went back to sleep.

At 6 am he woke up and asked for Mom to come. She skipped church and came to the hospital. He finds so much comfort just having her nearby.

During the night, Tim attempted to channel his Dad's engineer skills and jimmy rig the call light so that his dad could use it. He bought different supplies, and even the nurses got in on the action, but after 4 different approaches he still couldn't quite get it to work.

The doctors stopped by again this morning and offered no new information except the good news that Multiple myeloma has officially been ruled out through blood work. The past couple of days there was a very small but real concern that that might be a player in this disease process. Fortunately, it has been taken off the table.

I returned to Fort Wayne yesterday and Tim is driving back now. We will try to keep meaty blog posts coming your way as we glean info from our eyes on the scene. ;)