Joye's Update 5/20/08

Another great day today! Andrew had a swallow test today and he passed; he can now eat! The test was done in radiology where he was given all different kinds of foods with different kinds of textures (and liquids) to swallow and they viewed it on an x-ray to make sure he was not aspirating the food (sucking it into his lungs). He did great with every swallow. And he was in complete heaven eating those foods and drinking the liquids. His eyes were so lit up and he was just smiling and smiling. He was so excited and I could tell he just wanted to say something to tell me how great it felt, so he mouthed "I love you" to me to show me his excitement. It was so sweet and a really precious moment. He was up for 4 hours today in his chair, which tired him out a lot, so he wasn't able to eat his dinner tonight because they didn't want him to eat his first meal while being so tired as that can be dangerous. He was okay with it though; he just wanted to sleep. And, he will still be receiving his tube feed at night until he is able to eat at least 3,000 calories a day in food. So his first meal will be breakfast tomorrow. He was also too tired for me to read another chapter in the book I'm reading him "The Miracle Man," but I was able to read through the 7th chapter on my own (I couldn't help it). I cannot tell you how similar the experiences that this man endured are to the experiences Andrew has gone through while being hospitalized. Not everything is the same, but a lot is. I can't wait to read more to Andrew. God is awesome and He is listening and He is healing Andrew. There was a time when we were told that Andrew would not be able to eat as his swallow reflex and gag reflex were not there . . . God is healing him, it is evident. Thank you for your prayers and your blog posts and for the personal emails we've received; they mean the world to us. Good Night and God bless you all. Joye