movin' on up

Dad has officially moved up in the world!, to Select Specialty Hospital on the 5th floor of P/SL. He's in the "B" wing, so to visit him now, follow signs to the B elevator, take it to the 5th floor, and he's in room 5204! (Well, I'm only really sure about the "04" part of his room number, but that should be enough to get you to the right place. I'll come back and correct this post later if I figure out that it's wrong.)

The nice thing about Select is that they do "passive" physical therapy. Mom & Dawn have more information about all this, but the range of things that they can do is pretty impressive. I think they plan to start by having Dad sit upright in a chair, rather than reclined in a bed, since "upright" is a more natural position for the brain to settle into its proper place in the skull cavity. I've heard that they can also do passive standing and even walking, though I think that's a ways off for us yet. For now, I think they will just move Dad's arms & legs about, in motions that would be like weight-lifting if he were able to actively, rather than passively, participate.

Dad wasn't very "twitchy" today, which is always discouraging even though we sort of expected it -- we figured that the move from ICU to Select would wear him out. He did, however, move his head to the side quite quickly and strongly when I leaned down to kiss his cheek goodnight. It really startled me! Dad hit me in the face, with his face! We think it was probably just that my hair was tickling his (right) cheek, since I was able to get Dad to replicate the movement by moving my hair across his face. It's still very hard for us to tell what's reflex and what's intentional, which is part of why I'm praying so hard for him to open his eyes. But, we'll just keep hanging in there, hoping and praying and thanking God every day for all of you! The cards, comments, visits, food, hugs, caring and prayers are definitely a part of what's keeping us going. Thank you.