Walking... Feels SO Good!

     Today was a pretty uneventful and simple day, and was quiet enjoyable.  I quiet day in the ICU is always preferred to an eventful day.  My aunt Gail came and brought me some yummy oatmeal for breakfast.   She was last here on Sunday during/after his surgery and so she can see the huge difference from last week.   He's a whole new man!
 
     The only therapy today was a bit of physical therapy.   He took two laps around the ICU which is
much farther than yesterday.  It feels so good for him to be able to move around, and he only had to stop once each lap to rest a little or cough.  It did take a lot of effort and energy and he's learning how to breath in a different way, so in the afternoon we took advantage of the quiet and both took a nap.

     Did get a visit also from my visiting teacher delivering freshly made rice krispy treats from my good friend Paula.  She apologized that one as missing, but had met a cute boy in the elevator who was here with his dad who was getting treatment for a brain tumor and she gave him one and made his day.

      Had a visit also from our good friend John who got a job in Salt Lake and moved in upstairs earlier this year.  He was a huge blessing during Chris's brain surgery two years ago, and having him at home again is surely a tender mercy as when we do eventually get home I'll have someone in house willing to do anything that we need help with.  Also had a visit from my aunt Roxann who also visited last week and is amazed at how much he has improved.
 

  Ended the evening with a visit from ENT who gave us "The Plan".  With all the progress he has made, they feel that tomorrow they can move him from ICU to a regular room.  The view from his room here is pretty dull, so hopefully his new room will have a nice view of the valley that we have enjoyed during previous visits.  I guess the deluxe accommodations in this high end room are in the amazing staff and not the view, it's totally worth the trade off.  As we walked around the ICU today it was amazing how many people I (and he) recognized who have been so involved in his care.  

     His new custom trach should arrive hopefully tomorrow, and surgery will either be on Monday at his bedside or Tuesday in surgery.   They are going to discuss with Dr Smith and my guess is that knowing how careful they have been, it will likely be Tuesday.  When we asked about a long term plan, they they want time for him to heal and that his next surgery to look at the bi-lateral masses in his trachea more closely and possibly remove more of them will probably be in 3-4 weeks.  After likely what will be 3 surgeries in 2 weeks, a break sounds fantastic.  We also asked about speaking on the new trach and it likely isn't going to be possible.  His new trach is the same size and doesn't provide any air flow and the new one likely won't either.  They said perhaps in the future after they have worked more on the initial issue they can look into another different trach as an option.   It's been frustrating for Chris not to be able to speak, but his amazingly positive attitude doesn't let him down and he's still doing his best to communicate by thumbs up, head nodding and writing things down.