Joye's Update 4/12/08

Hi all. . . today was a little better than yesterday with regard to Andrew's breathing. Without pain medication or sedation, Andrew was able to breath for 1.5 hours on C-Pap. It's going to take some practice to learn to breath like this, but he's doing great. The MRI results showed the top part of the spine (C1 & C2) to have less swelling, but still a lot of swelling in C3-C6 still remains. Which, again, is not a bad thing as this gives us much hope that more feeling and movement will come as those areas become less swollen. We have perfected our more advanced method for communication called "the alphabet game." He spells words by having me go through the alphabet and I stop on whichever letter he blinks hard on. It's pretty effective; and not as time consuming as you might think; he has me running all over the place getting him blankets, washing his face, and getting the nurse for pain meds or suction. Sometimes he has me put his bed up and then he doesn't like that so we go down a little and then by the time we're done he's exactly in the same place he started; but that's okay, I'll do whatever he wants to make him feel better. He is also now able to have his neck brace off, if he wishes. The neurosurgeon took it off today and Andrew decided he liked the support of just having the back part of the brace on as it makes his neck feel more secure. I received the posters that those of you at his workplace signed and quite a few cards have come in to my sisters mail box. Those cards and messages were read to him and he was so happy to hear from everyone. We are praying all the time and his faith is still strong as ever. He's so determined to get out of this bed and it shows all over his face. He's resting when he's supposed to be and he's working hard when he's supposed to be. His discipline and focus are quite impressive; I'm so proud of him. Thank you all for keeping him in your prayers, it means the world to us both. Good night. God Bless. Joye