One Small Step to Rehabilitation, One Giant Leap to Life Without A Ventilator!

Woo-hoo! Greg and I went to visit Uncle J tonight and we got some awesome news. Uncle J had been off the ventilator since 12:25 p.m. and we were there at 5:30 p.m. If all goes well, he'll continue through a progression of stages to breathing without any additional means. There may be a few setbacks along the way, but hopefully he'll be able to get right back on track. We visited for a couple hours and Uncle J had us massage and rub his hands quite a few times. They are a little stiff, so we worked with his hands and fingers trying to help him get loosened up and make them feel a little better. He can also have ice chips now, so I gave him some of those. I had trouble a few times trying to decipher the words he was mouthing. How frustrating! I know he'll (and we'll) be so excited when he can talk to us! They sat him up in a chair at about 7:00 p.m. and we left about 7:30 p.m. Mom called for an update at about 10:3o p.m. and he was still doing good on his own. 10 hours of breathing without the ventilator! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers- we'll keep trying to get updates on here as much as we can.