Joye's Update 4/17/08

Praise the Lord . . . that's all I have to say. Andrew moved his arm twice today and squeezed a nurses hand during his surgery. During his surgery to receive the trach, Andrew picked his entire arm up and moved it open as though he was stretching. The people present in the O.R., who witnessed this strongly agree that it appeared to be a purposeful move, not a reflex. Also during the surgery, a nurse was holding his hand that had the IV in it to keep it stable and she said he squeezed her hand quite firmly. Then, when he was returned to his CCU room the nurses and respitory technicians saw him pick his arm up and lay it down on his upper thigh. When I walked in the room they were all smiles and some with tears of joy. God is touching Andrew with his healing hand, I just know it. Later in the day, he was able to receive his new feeding tube . . . and that went well too. He's sleeping comfortably; ocassionally he'll wake up and will feel how raw his throat is and I know from the look on his face that he's in a lot of pain. I guess he'll be in that pain for a couple of days though. From what I understand, we will only have a week or even less here and he will be going to rehab to get off the ventilator. I'm going to begin touring the rehab hospitals as soon as tomorrow to find him the best there is to offer. I've spoken to a lot of the neuro nurses here and have some good information to go on. These nurses have to come to love Andrew and want him to go to the best place.