Getting better each day

Walt had a great PT session today. He has been very cooperative with PT, OT, and Speech and is willing to try to do whatever they ask. He fed himself some of his lunch today as well. We love to continue hearing positive steps each day.

Walt's weekend

How does that phrase go, "slow & steady". That is how we feel about Walt's progress. I am frustrated that the simplest question is so hard to answer, "How is he doing?" He is doing good, better in fact, than last week, but this road is such an incredibly long journey! He has both PT & OT working with him. He was able to sit up on the edge of the bed again yesterday. Another big step we saw yesterday was that he could take a drink of water out of a glass by himself! That shows that he has come so far in a week. There are moments of understanding, and moments of confusion. He loved seeing the kids again yesterday. We spent some time with Cheryl back in Mac this weekend trying to help get things situated there. They did remove the cannula (can't remember if I mentioned that), so he is free of almost all medical equipment. Hoping for some good test results today (or soon). Today marks 2 weeks since his surgery.

Another move

 
 
 

Sorry about the pics, I couldn't help myself. It is 4th of July weekend and I had to put up some pics of the kiddos! Those same kiddos got to see Pop Pop today!!! They were all so very happy. Pop Pop kept telling me he was crying "tears of joy" and my kids talked about the visit all day long. They've been such troopers waiting patiently for nearly 2 weeks to finally see him. It was such a great day!

Walt was moved again. We anticipated this move. He is still located in the Via Christi St. Francis building, but it is in a longer term care facility, a rehab center, in which they will help Walt get back to his old self. We are happy to see this move, even though it did wear him out today, because it is one step closer to him being able to come home. They also removed his PICC line today, removed staples, and are weaning him down to almost bare bones in the hospital world! He was doing such a great job visiting with his family today. What an improvement one week can make. Here's praying the rehab center will get him stronger soon. Calvin told me that he & Pop Pop that need to go fishing real soon.

Walt moved today

Walt was moved out of the critical care unit, and moved into a step-down unit this evening. He is in a room with a roommate. We are still asking that we limit visitors at this time. He had a good time visiting with his daughter, Laura, today. We are seeing improvement each day. The nurses sat him up in bed today for the first time.

Thank you

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for helping our family out during this time. The outpouring of prayers, phone calls, and offers of help have been incredible! While I know that Walt & Cheryl are wonderful people, it is so sweet to hear all of your comments on how very much they are loved by everyone else. I know so many of you want to do what you can to help, and trust me it is VERY much appreciated! For now, I think we are covered on meals. For now, the house is taken care of. For now, I think we are ok. However, this is a very long road, and we may be calling in 2 or 3 weeks to cash in on some of the offers of help.

Walt is stable and is doing pretty good. They are looking at possible transferring him to another facility, which will be able to care of his needs and move him out of the CCU. We will let you know if this happens, and when it would be ok to come and visit. At this time they are still limiting his visitors to not wear him out too much.

Again, we thank you and appreciate your support!

Great Wednesday

It is a good day today with Walt. His eyes are open, he is even tracking things moving around looking. He is currently eating lunch and enjoying it a lot. He's talking a great deal today. He told us "Walt's back". We got some of the results back and two of his tests came back clear, which looked great! We continue to wait for the path results. His neurologist is supposed to be in this afternoon.

He's been pretty funny these few days. Quite the sense of humor, and a little unreserved on other comments. It is so good seeing him looking better today!

Tuesday

Walked in to the room today and the nurse said that he was "alert & responsive". These are wonderful things to hear! He is on a mushy food diet (he and Zach may get to share some food) and finished all of his breakfast & most of lunch, which is great news! They removed the feeding tube (with a little help from Walt) and are just watching him closely to ensure he consumes enough calories. He was bantering with the nurse quite well this morning, even telling her he'd rather have a pizza. You forget how something so simple (eating, moving him around, bathing) can really wear you out after everything he's been through. Walt is getting some great attention from his nurse today, since he is her only patient. We still haven't gotten the results from several tests. Still waiting.

Walt's brother & sister flew back home (after a flight delay kept them here an extra night). It was so nice having them both here! We tease G a lot, but I think it was perfect having him here. Cheryl is already missing having N's medical experience! Sure wish you guys lived closer :)

Cheryl was able to get home last night to Mac. We got Maggie out of the kennel and she was very happy to be at home with us. Cheryl was able to visit with several neighbors & friends. She is trying to return calls, so if you've called, be patient with her as she is swamped right now and is really trying to spend as much time with Walt as possible (and we are trying to force her to take care of herself some, too, you know like eat & sleep). I think the whole situation is starting to catch up to her. She (and all of us) VERY much appreciate your offers of help. Don't worry, she will be calling you to ask for help.

Walt has been asking about his "Magster" and his "monsters" (aka grandkids), so this is such wonderful things to hear. He tells us he loves us and doesn't love it when we leave his room. We tell him we have to go so he can rest, and it never, ever gets easier to leave a loved one behind as you walk through the doors of the hospital. It wasn't easy 18 months ago, and it isn't easy now!

As you continue to pray for Walt's recovery, pray also for Cheryl. This isn't easy on her. We all love them both so much.

Sunday

Yesterday was a very good day, as Walt woke up enough to open his eyes a little, respond by nodding his head to verbal questions, give “thumbs up”, and even smile some. However, our exuberance to see all this may have caused us to overwork and exhaust him. Today, although still showing some of this responsiveness, his overall awareness/responsiveness level has been a little lower. Because of this step back today, the doctors are trying to let him rest as much as possible, and also conducting a few tests to determine if there is some reason for this setback.

What a sweet, sweet sound

As we were leaving tonight, we told Walt we loved him. He says, "I love you" back to us!! That was an incredible sound! He also was able to tell us speaking about his brother, Glenn, "he's annoying" but we all laugh and are happy hearing Walt say that, b/c well, that's just Glenn!!

We were hoping to put it out there for a possibility for some "help" requests:
1) I'd love to have some people offer to do SMALL meals, possibly sandwiches, small containers of salad (she loves a chicken waldorf, with pecans??? I will check on this for you). The containers need to be small, and able to be marked with her name that can be stored in a community fridge. I would love it if you could contact me first so that we don't have too many people trying to do this all at once. Email me at spjunk@embarqmail.com

2) I think I (Stephanie) am going to stay in Mac for a few days after Skip heads back to KC. I would love to be able to help Cheryl out in Wichita if she needs me and was wondering if there are any Mac family/friends who might be willing to help watch the munchkins. This could be at their house, or at your house, whatever is convenient. Again, email me at spjunk@embarqmail.com Possible times include anytime Tuesday and/or Wednesday. I will take whatever I can get.

This is all I have per Cheryl. I will let you know if I hear more requests from her. We appreciate all the cards, calls, prayers, etc. If we don't get you called back immediately, I hope you understand. Access to the internet is limited as well, so please do email, but be patient as I will try to get to it as I can.

A special personal prayer goes out to my dear friend Stephanie tonight. In the midst of this chaos, she is working hard at bringing a brand new miracle into this world! Best wishes Steph, can't wait to see pics of that sweet girl!! Love you Steph & Kyle!!

Wonderful news!

Walt is awake. Sometime last night he woke up. He was responding to requests (lift 2 fingers, nod head yes & no, etc) & really focusing his eyes on us. He even belly laughed at his brother. He became very emotional seeing Cheryl this morning, and she did a good job calming him down. They extubated him at 9:10 and he has done a great job breathing on his own. He does need to have a lot of rest. The visiting with family seemed to wear him out and has been sleeping a lot the rest of the day. The docs asked us to take it easy to allow him to have enough energy for the docs.

We are beyond thrilled at this good news. We know there is still a long road ahead.

They are hoping to remove the drainage tube from his head (that had been draining fluid) tomorrow. It has been clamped since yesterday and he is doing well with that.

His lungs continue to look good. They did a brochoscopy (forgive me if this is wrong) yesterday and it looked good. Lungs have remained clear and he is giving us some good deep coughs.

He was able to get a good bath & shave today. This is a good thing b/c the scruffy look was not looking right on our Walt.

We continue to wait on the patholigy results. No news yet.

Some good news

They have been watching Walt closely for congestion and/or pneumonia. They did a procedure this afternoon to look into his lungs to make sure they were clear. They were a little worried with the fluid they had seen in the tube, but were very pleased to NOT see any significant amount of fluid on his lungs. They are still giving him some antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. They had given him some heavier duty meds for the procedure, so the rest of the day we don't really expect much out of him due to the drugs. We were very pleased to not see fluid on his lungs!! For the most part everything else is remaining the same, and right now stable is not a bad thing! We are just allowing Walt to have some time resting until his body is ready to "wake up". Keep praying for him, and keep praying for Cheryl, as I know this isn't easy on her.