Update #70

(Sidenote: I started this post at 6:00 a.m. but am just now finishing it at 3:00 p.m., so the time on the post is probably wrong).

So after all that babble about Dave not being able to sit up anymore for a while, Dave got to sit up in a chair...and go outside!

On Saturday, I guess Dave's nurse Laura, who was with him during the first week after his accident, checked with his surgeon (Dr. Taylor), and Dr. Taylor said that the back brace wouldn't be a problem for his injuries. So Laura ordered the brace, then gave Dave a choice - either he could do the trach collar for a long time or he could put on the brace, sit in a chair, and be wheeled with all of his machines out to the helicopter pad to sit in the sun. Hard to guess which one he chose...

I haven't seen the pictures they took yet, but Den said that it was quite the experience. It took eight people and a half hour to accomplish, but Dave left his room and saw the sun for the first time in over eight weeks! When I asked him how it was being outside, he said, "Hot." August in Tennessee - go figure. He did enjoy the change of scenery, though, and his dizziness was not as bad as it was the first couple of times that he sat up.

This accomplishment, and the choice that Laura offered him between sitting up and the trach collar, begins what seems to be a new phase in Dave's recovery - I'm trying to think of a tough metaphor to use - the Rocky Phase, maybe? Anyway, Laura and Dave's night nurse Kristen have decided no more babying him. They want to get him out of the ICU, and they want to do it now. This means, unfortunately, that he is on the trach collar for a long as his body can handle it, even when he says he is tired. He handled it for five hours last night, which was the longest he has done it in a row, but he certainly didn't enjoy the experience, especially when he asked to come off and it took them over an hour to do it. He also just finished another five and a half hours, which he did fine with. From what he has been saying, he just hates being on the trach collar when he is alone at night, so we're trying to push him to work harder during the day so they will cut him some slack while he sleeps. We'll see how it goes.

Dave got his second massage today and did very well with it. Gayle, his massage therapist, said that he didn't close his eyes the entire time she was working on him last week and seemed to feel the need to stay alert even when he was supposed to be relaxing. Today, he was visibly more relaxed and had his eyes closed almost the whole time. Gayle or one of her associates will be back tomorrow to work with him again.

At the moment, Dave is sleeping peacefully in the afterglow of his massage. Overall, he has had a great day, and it is only 3:15 p.m. Hopefully, the rest of the afternoon will be just as amazing. More tomorrow...