Monday

Sorry about the silence here on the blog the last few days. Here's the latest update. We got back to our "home" room on 4 west late last night, saying a fond farewell to the PICU. Those folks took great care of Matt but we hope we never see them again. Ultimately, it was concerns about Matt's cardiac issues that kept him in the PICU a couple of extra days.

Medically, he is doing well with the infection and pneumonia under control, though not yet totally defeated. They have reduced the number of antibiotics he is taking so we don't get the volume discount any more. The plastic surgery to close his bed sore is going to be next week in order to get completely past the infection and pneumonia. About the only problem we're having is that the ostomy bag keeps leaking. Noel and the nurses are working hard to find a solution but the final answer may not come until his colostomy incision is completely healed.

Matt demonstrated his new "take no prisoners" attitude about PT and OT today. During PT, he asked to be taken outside in his wheelchair. Then he asked to go the the rehab gym. Then he did 5 reps on the parallel bars (see video). Later, he got back in the wheelchair for OT and threw the football with Miss Jenny. To top it all off, he got on Facebook for a few minutes. Needless to say, he is very tired tonight!

Finally, many thanks to the FANTASTIC nurses on 4 west who put out extra effort both last night and today to get Matt re-settled in his room. They all love and care for Matt and this was just one more demonstration of that.