We've had a good couple of days. Yesterday we went bowling, at least pretended to go bowling while playing the wii. Bill had a difficult time with it but it takes fine finger motions along with the arm motions. It's probably the only time I will ever beat him, wii or real, in bowling.

Today we practiced transferring to and from the car and there were no problems at all. I just have to make sure that he backs into the seat instead of stepping in as most people do. We've also been given permission to walk in the afternoons without a wheelchair coming with us. There are enough sitting areas in the unit that if he gets tired there would be a close seat. We did that today and sat for a while on the sofa.

Bill actually met me as I was coming down the hall this morning and he was dressed and ready to go. He had been watching for me from the patio and saw me walk by. He said he had a terrible night and that they bothered him all night. But, he hadn't wanted me to leave last night so he was unsettled early. There were no problems since they didn't call me so I'm not sure what bothered him.

We're going to try to go for a ride this week-end since we didn't have any trouble getting in the car. I'm hoping that will perk him up. I talked to Stephanie today, had a question about Coke and his gtube, and told her that he's getting somewhat depressed seeing the same thing each day and being confined so much. She didn't have much to say about it and I told her that the staff at Cypress was also aware of it.

Our housekeeper is going to give Bill speeding tickets for racing his wheelchair. On the hard floors he really goes but slows down on the carpet. He also roams so much that they're having a hard time keeping track of him when I'm not there. He usually ends up at the nurses station talking to everyone.

His wound looked fantastic today. The dimensions are now 4.2 x 1.4 x 0.6. The top part, which was the deepest has now sealed at the edges so it won't be long now. We still don't have an appointment with Dr. Agnew and we're all really wanting him to see it again.

He tried his French Toast yesterday morning and couldn't eat it. But, his tube had gotten clogged in the night and it took almost an hour to get it open. They use long thin tubes that remind me of crochet hooks to try to dislodge whatever is stopping it and I think they irritated his stomach. He also is now having to adjust to real food in addition to the liquid. Since breakfast didn't work he ate some soup and crackers for lunch and did pretty well. He had a harder time with the saltines than the graham crackers. Today he had mashed potatoes and gravy and said they were pretty good. I don't know what he'll get tomorrow. The only thing for breakfast he could get is grits and he doesn't like those and the soup tomorrow is some off the wall soup. Maybe some pureed french fries.

I was catching up on some of my blog reading tonight and one that I follow is about another man waiting to be transplanted. I knew that he had received his heart in March but hadn't been back to the page to see how he was doing. Sadly, he passed away in early April due to complications. This was a young man with 2 young children in California. His wife started following this blog which is how I found out about Patrick. I was so sorry to read about him, but his wife is doing well and still is in touch with his transplant team. This situation makes me feel even more blessed to still have Bill, even with all of his problems. He's also started really noticing some of the other residents and commented today that some of them are way worse off than he is! He's also wondering what has brought them to Cypress, if they have all had strokes or not. I know that some have had knee replacements, but there are many who are stroke patients. And you can tell that some of them won't recover to even the point that Bill has reached. He's becoming the poster child for the unit. Everyone from the CNAs and housekeepers to the RNs and social workers and therapists are amazed at how far he has come in the last 5 weeks. He's much further along than they thought he would be at this point. Swallowing is the sticking point right now and that's getting better so maybe next week they can get the next study scheduled and move toward removing the gtube.

I've rambled enough for tonight. Until the next time...