Happy 4th of July

Randy had a good day today. He spent most of the morning resting. But during the afternoon, he became quite active.

They sat him up in his chair during the late afternoon and it was a constant battle to make sure he didn't pull out the feeding tube from his nose. He was wanting to feel everything with his right hand. There were times he would also reach out in front of him ~ I am not sure if he was seeing something and trying to touch it or if he couldn't see and wanted to know what was there.

He did better today with talking. He had a lot of times where he would just start talking and we couldn't understand, but he would have moments where we could pick out a few words. His dad talked to him via cell phone and it really sounded as though Randy was responding to what he was saying. He even did a little laugh in appropriate places. We had some friends visit today and he was able to give them a thumbs up when I asked him to. At one point today, I asked him a question and when he didn't respond, I asked it again. He still didn't respond so I asked him if he was ignoring me and he said "Yeah".

Medically, his white blood cell count is getting lower, which is a great thing ~ it means the antibiotics are doing their thing and whatever infections he has are going away and his electrolytes are evening out, which means his body is healing and returning to a more normal state.

I saw Randy move his left arm a bit today, but the movement comes more from the shoulder than him actually moving the arm. There has been no movement in the left leg. It feels so much colder than the right leg. While I was doing some of his exercises with him today, I was bending his left leg and moving it up and down and I asked him if he would help me. He, of course, didn't move the left leg, but he followed the same motions in his right leg throughout the rest of the exercise. His right foot is still very stiff. I rubbed it a lot last night and today I rubbed it some more along with the lower part of his leg. That helped him to straighten out his foot a bit more, but I think they are still going to cast it to keep it in the right position.

He opened his eyes quite a bit today. The left eye looks normal, but the right eye rolls up. The nurse told us that, with time, that eye might return to normal, or it might not. At this point, we don't even know if he will be able to see.

I am so excited over the little progress that he makes everyday. Today, though, was a bit harder for me. I feel as though I am talking to him as though he is a child ~ telling him no (though I do understand that keeping him from pulling tubes out is very important). It is also really hard to see him get frustrated. There were several times today I could tell he was getting upset and really frustrated with people because we kept restricting him. It was also really hard not being with him to celebrate the 4th. I really miss him.