Monday, July 26, 2010 — A red letter day!

These are the highlights of the momentous things that occurred today: The sedative was discontinued early in the morning. The ventilation tube was removed from Skip's throat and mouth two hours later. The nurse said Skip handled this difficult situation beautifully. About an hour and a half after that he began to speak. When the kids came into the room he held the palms of his hands up, opened his eyes and mouth wide and said "Hi." Envision a "Grandpa Scarecrow." One of the next things he said was, "I need to move." I could have predicted that. He joked with Elena, spoke in Spanish and made a funny face at Larkin. He asked Leah how long it would be before she would be leaving for England and he told Steve someone needed to be up at the cabin on Saturday, July 31 for a Forest Service cabin inspection that had been announced to us a month ago by letter. We think we can safely say he's all there!

Steve was in the room in the late afternoon when they disconnected the CRT full time dialysis machine which had worked so hard 24/7 to detoxify Skip's blood. Tomorrow they will wheel in the big machine which will be used for intermittent dialysis probably three hours a day at the beginning.

It is apparent that his throat is still very sore from the ventilation tube, so after taking a much sought after ice chip, he winces when it gets low in his throat. Right from the get go he began pleading for leg movement. He had Larkin, Elena or Steve moving his legs up and down and as each group came in the room the chore fell to them. When Chuck entered the room for the first time Skip asked him about some papers they had been discussing weeks earlier. Steve said he heard his dad asking the nurse how the dialysis machine works and if osmosis is involved.

When Mike and I returned early in the evening from Fort Bragg Skip gave us a big smile and when I held his hand he was able to really squeeze it and wouldn't let go of it. He kept whispering that movement was his greatest wish. So I have a hunch he's going to be an ideal patient for physical therapy since he's already self initiating all kinds of movement on his own and with the help of others.

You might say that this is a group of very happy campers. We're thrilled thinking of bringing Skip home to work his way back to a normal life. I can see him walking around the porch which Harry and Stefan improved so beautifully. How good can it get?