Evening

Mark responded well to his tracheotomy today and he came to around 6pm. This means he opens his eyes just a slit and is able to squeeze my hand. He still has a fever. This is excruciatingly slow going and I'm sorry I don't have more positive news. The good things come slowly and the bad things come much quicker.

He has a feeding tube in his nose and his next surgery will be to place a feeding tube directly through his side into his stomach. When he is aware (although he doesn’t really look awake) he responds to the doctor’s commands correctly. Every hour they poke him in the chest and shout his name till he wakes up. So I’m warning you now, he may react negatively in the future to either of these actions.

Thank you to your wonderful comments to the blog. I know he’ll love reading these soon!!

Dick is leaving for California tomorrow morning and Mother Maggie is arriving Wednesday afternoon. I’m sure Mark will be glad to see her.

Chris