Live and Unplugged

Today was a pretty good day. I had two nice visits with Chris today. The morning got off to a bit of a rough start though. When I arrived a her room this morning she was asleep. So, not wanting to disturb her I pulled up a chair and stat with her so that when she opened her eyes she'd see me. About 15 minutes later the nurse came in a woke her up. She was really groggy. Turns out they gave her a sleeping pill the night before it really knocked her out. Her catheter was removed earlier this morning so once she was awake she needed to make a trip to the bathroom. It was hard for her as she was still sore from all the therapy yesterday, add to that the sluggish state that the sleeping pill left her in and she was moving pretty slow. Once we got her potty stop done the nurse asked her to take a walk, so even though she would have preferred to stay in bed she was a trooper and we took a short stroll down the hall and back. She showed me the best way to help her back into bed to avoid pain and we accomplished that. The trick is one steady motion from sitting to laying down, keeping her entire body aligned so nothing twists. Not an easy feat, but one that we will I'm sure master over the next couple of days.

This evening after work I came home to pick up the kids and we headed over to the hospital, stopping at Taco Bell to a quick bite to eat on the way. We got to the hospital and as is our tradition Catie and I took the stairs to the 7th floor and the boys took the elevator. Tonight was extra special because we beat them to 7! Yes!! Chris is now fully unplugged from all the hardware. Her IV is gone so she is flying solo for food, water and med's, exciting and scary all at the same time. It does make it much less complicated to get out of bed and move around. However, she now has to get up to go to the bathroom with is still a pretty big ordeal.

There are two main hurdles that Chris needs to get over before the Doc will consider releasing her. One is a bowel movement and the other is being on solid food. They can't do the second until she accomplishes the first. I'll spare us all the details but lets just say the coffee is perking, but she hasn't been able to pour. Walking is supposed to help the process along so when we got to her room she was eager to get up and walk with us. Boy did we walk. She was like the Energizer Bunny, she just kept going and going... We walked the length of all four hallways on the floor and back, just over 30 minutes in all. Toward the end she started to get pretty week so we headed back to the room. Once we got her all settled back in bed we sat down and visited and watch TV with her. It's funny, she doesn't think she has a good a day today as she did yesterday. That's only because she is living it, I've seen huge progress in the last 24 hours. I reminded her that even though she may not feel better than yesterday, she has accomplished more that she did yesterday. In fact every day has built on the previous day.

I am so grateful for all the moral support and prayers we have received from family and friends. We simply couldn't get through this with out it. I thank you all so much and ask that you keep us in your prayer over this entire experience. God Bless you all.