God is good... some amazing updates on James' health!

4/30
Dearest Ba b,
I stayed in CCU with you for two days already. I slept overnight on April 29. The nurses told me that you were very restless and active at night. They would like to see if I could stay to accompany you. So Ba b, I was on duty from April 29-30 in CCU. There were many improvements on this weekend:
1. On April 29, you could walk without walker. You only need two people to support you while you were walking (I held your right hand and the nurse held your left hand). You walked pretty fast and you gradually gained the balance.
2. On April 29, you could go to bathroom on your own with some help walking to the toilet.
3. On April 29, you could feed yourself with right hand. Occasionally you would use your left hand.
4. On April 29, you could brush your teeth and rinse your mouth.
5. On April 30, you have proved to the speech therapist that you could successfully chew and swallow solid food. So they changed your diet to normal food (not the soft baby food any more).
6. On April 30, you could use your PDA to look at calendar and dail phone number to talk with people. Although what you said to others may not make sense, you started conversation and communication with people.
7. On April 30, the case manger told us that the neurosurgeon, the speech therapist, the physical therapist, the occupational therapist and the nurses all agreed that you have huge improvement. Praise the Lord! So you would be discharged from this hospital and will send to an acute rehabilitation hospital (15 minutes away from our house) tomorrow (May 1).
Acute rehabilitation is a specialty that provides an intensive inpatient program to enable people who have experienced some major injury, disorder or illness to regain the skills needed to return to the community. The central nervous system and musculoskeletal systems are most often involved. Regardless of what caused the disability, acute rehabilitation specialists work to restore maximum function and quality of life for the patient—at home, in the workplace, and in the community.
Ba b, I am so happy to hear this news. You are one step closer to recovery. The neurosurgeon and all the staff in the CCU are so amazed to see your speedy recovery. I know that God is the one who makes everything possible. He protects you and saves you from harm. He will continue to take care of you and our family. May all glory and honor back to God!


4/28
Dearest Ba b,
This morning (April 28) around 8am I fed you a solid food breakfast. You had special French toast, rice cereal, milk and egg custard. After the breakfast, you started to move around on the bed and to be restless again. You were pulling your urinary catheter. I guess it was uncomfortable to you. In order to prevent pulling and hurting yourself, I have asked the nurse to take it out. She agreed to do so as long as I could pay attention to you and cleaned up for you. After taking out the urinary catheter, you calm down and sat on the bed.
At 2pm, you became restless again. You tried to pull yourself up from the bed. You told me that it was boring to stay here and would like to go home. I suggested to the nurse that may be we could help you move around with a walker. Then two nurses helped me to get you started walking on the hallway in CCU. You could walk slowly. Your left leg was moving slower than the right leg. But you could move forward with the help of the walker. At the beginning, you could not balance yourself. Gradually, you could move better and stand up straight. At 4:30pm, they helped me again to get you up for another walk. This time you were better. You walked a little bit faster. You still need some more practice to find your balance. After all the exercise, you were really tired. You fell asleep right after dinner at 5:30pm.
This afternoon, you kept asking the nurse to let you go. We were wondering why. Then you told her that there will be a wedding for a brother and a sister at church today. I was so surprised that you still remember the wedding. Praise the Lord! Your cognitive skill is getting better. The other thing that you remember is our daughter Joanna. It seems that you have forgotten her. I have asked you about her during the past few days. But you did not seem to remember her. Today your consulting physician asked you about Joanna. You thought about it for few minutes and you could correctly say her name and her age. I am so glad to see your memory come back gradually. Ba b, you have improved a lot. I am so proud of you. May we continue to walk with God daily. Although sometimes there are pain and tears, I know that God will help us through.