Chocolate Milkshake Never Tasted So Good

As per our first blog for the day, we shared our great joy when Jayson was able to walk on his own with the assistance of a walker and two physical therapist this morning. We are just so amazed at how much strength and determination he has.  All glory and praise goes to our almighty God! We know he has a hand in every improvement we see in Jayson.

Let me give you a summary of what Jayson has been doing today. He was transferred to a recliner at about 8:30 a.m. this morning.  He had a restful night according to Henry who stayed up with him all night while I slept in the same room. The room that we had been using next to Jayson has a new patient so we've moved all our belongings to Jayson's room. It's a bit tight but we're not complaining.  The ICU staff has allowed us to use the other room when they didn't need it. So, we were thankful for each day we were able to use it.

Chocolate Milkshake!

After Jayson's physical therapy session, I met up with Jay's medical team when they were making their rounds. They have shared their concern about Jayson's liver. There's evidence that his liver is not functioning properly, so they may need to add new medications or make changes to their treatment soon. Jayson still has a fever and his doctors still do not know what's causing this. We were notified that the sample the ENT doctors took from Jayson's nasal cavity shows there is something growing in the culture, but they have not been able to identify what is growing yet. Jayson will continue to receive platelet and plasma transfusion when his blood count is low.

Aside from being able to walk with the walker, there is additional good news we'd like to share today.  His ICU doctor has allowed Jayson to eat some soft food such as pudding, applesauce, shakes and soggy cereal. So, after the meeting, I shared this good news with Jayson and asked him what he wanted to eat. He asked for chocolate milkshake from McDonalds. So, I quickly went to the ground level of the hospital and got him his chocolate milkshake. I had him sip some shake from a straw and it was Jayson's first taste of a chocolate milkshake in a long while. Tomorrow he wants a berry smoothie from Costco, so that's where I'll be heading for lunch tomorrow.

Jayson was more alert today than he has been the past few days.  He was very responsive and more interactive today with family members and ICU staff. His social worker, Heather, came by to talk to him about his wish.  The representative we've been working with contacted Heather to see if there was any wish that they can fulfill for Jayson.  Heather mentioned it to Jayson, but he wasn't too alert at the time of her visit. We will try to work with Jayson in the next few days to see if he has another wish he'd like instead of the cruise.

Right now, it's already 10:40 p.m. Jayson just had a few teaspoons of cocoa puffs cereal with milk. He's had a long and busy day.  Hopefully he'll have a restful night and will have more energy for day 2 of his physical therapy. I have yet to figure out how to add the video of him walking this morning to my posting. I took the video from my cell phone, but when I tried to add it to my post, it wouldn't play.  If anyone has an idea of how to do it, please call me or write a comment to this posting.  We're excited to show this video to you, so I hope someone will be able to help me. Thank you in advance and good night.