Bill had another good day. He was sitting up in chair position and started talking as soon as I walked in the room. I couldn't make out what he was trying to say and he wasn't making sounds so it was lip reading. He finally wrote "Go off" on his board so he wants to get out of bed and the room. It was a month today that he was airlifted so I'm sure now that he's awake he would like a change of scenery.

He was put back on the trach collar today and, while his numbers were decent, they weren't as good as yesterday as far as saturation goes. But, he didn't need suctioned today. His numbers did go up this afternoon when the bed was turned back into a bed and he went to sleep, so the position he was in may have had something to do with it.

The speech therapist came in this afternoon and put the speaking valve on his trach tube so that he could speak clearer and still wear the collar. The valve lets air in but not out so he has to exhale through his mouth. It didn't want to stay on well and that's because of the size tube they have used. So she was going to ask Dr. Williams if it could be reduced so that the valve would fit better. Right now she only wants it used when she is in the room so that he can monitor his numbers and she is going to try to come early tomorrow since he is fresher in the morning.

He was still up most of the night, pushing his call button. But when the nurse would go in and ask if he needed anything he said no. I told Rachel today that he was probably trying to turn the TV on and just pushing the top, big button. The TV button is very small and green and at the bottom. So, she was going to pass the word on that. But, they are also changing meds to see if they can find the magic combination to make him sleep, without actually sedating him. He did stay up most of the day so he must have gotten some sleep.

Dr. Williams said that they just need to really work on getting him stronger now so hopefully he'll tell physical therapy to come in more. We haven't seen them since either right before or right after Christmas. He won't get stronger if they won't work with him more.

I stopped at Walmart tonight and bought a tablet with a keyboard for him to use. It may be easier for him to type than write at this point. I've taken it out of the box and that's as far as I've gotten, so I'd better get it charged so that I can at least get a notepad app on it for him. We can work on games later!

So, it was a day where not much happened, but something did happen with speech. We'll see what tomorrow brings!