Thursday update

Walt still had another good day. He seemed to enjoy a baseball game last night. Cheryl has been talking with nurses about the possibility to move him out of this room and get a room in which he will be able to focus more on his therapy. He tried to feed himself again today, which continues to be a good sign. He had a big morning getting moved around in his bed (they changed bedding) and several other housekeeping things, so he was a little more worn out for PT. He tried to do what they said, but wasn't quite as successful. The PT keeps telling us he has a good attitude. They continue to work with him in keeping up the skills with his right side, and getting his left side back into action. There is a big meeting with Cheryl and several of the heads of departments tomorrow. This will be a great time to evaluate where he is at, make sure everyone is working together, and discuss some of his next steps.

We feel so loved by so very many people! We want you to know how much you are all appreciated. As much as we love you all, and want to share updated information, we (the kids) want to protect Cheryl just a little. We sense that this is going to be a very long journey. We can tell that Cheryl is getting tired, and feels inundated with all the tasks at hand, not to mention wanting to spend as much time with Walt as she can. We are encouraging her to ignore phone calls if she is in the middle of helping Walt, or dealing with imporant information. I want to encourage any person out there reading this blog and curious about Walt or the situation to feel free to call me!! Cheryl loves all of you so much and doesn't want to miss anyone. However, we don't want to see her so exhausted that she ends up in the hospital. If you would like my phone number, please email me at spjunk@embarqmail.com I hope you can understand our requests to limit the phone calls to Cheryl. We love her dearly and really do want to protect her!!

In addition to the above request, we are going to be putting in a guest book in Walt's room. If you come by to visit, please sign the book. We aren't always able to be in the room, and we don't know who has been there to visit or who hasn't. We'd love to be able to discuss with Walt who has visited, and looking at the guest book will be one way we can do that.

Again, we want to thank you all for your prayers, love, and support. Thank you for the lawn mowings, the meals, the calls, and everything else! The outpouring of love continues to show me what a fabulous family I married into. Their love has always been so obvious to me--the love they show each other, their children, grandchildren, community, etc. It is only right for them to feel loved back at this time in life!