Update on Gary Gordon from 10-17-2011

10/17/2011
Posted by his son.

It's been quite a week or so. Gone are our gloves and gowns and dad is finally able to roam freely through the hallways. So roam isn't quite the word but he can leave his room if someone wants to push.

Also gone now is the trach tube. It's been removed and seems to be healing nicely. They're continuing to work on his swallowing and now with the trach gone he's closer to eating somewhat real food again.

His speech hasn't improved much but that will come with time, I hope. He's still mostly nodding his head yes and no and on occasion will give you a shoulder shrug and a tilted head. As in when asked "Are the nurses treating you well?", he might respond with a "Most of the time, but I'd rather they wouldn't mess with me. I wish I could take this glove off" More on the glove later.

He has been trying to talk more but most of what's coming out is air and a just a faint bit of noise. I've noticed it when he's trying to string a few words together and he just can't make it happen. There is still the occasional word so he hasn't regressed. I haven't seen his goofy grin in a while but I've heard he's been caught laughing. If you visit, please bring your best joke, I'd love to hear what happens. No miming please, it's not funny, ever. We get it, you're stuck in a box.

Say, who's that walking down the street? Is that Dad? Um, no. Not yet but he's trying. Once he was cleared to go back to the gym they've been very aggressive getting him up and walking. It's not the most coordinated thing but he's been up a few times now and while he can't support his own weight he's doing a pretty good job of moving his feet. He knows what he's supposed to be doing, he's just not able to get his feet to move the way he wants. It's pretty cool to see, especially from where he was a few weeks ago.

One more gone is his Doc Brown haircut. Bryn Mawr has done a decent job of working with his goatee and keeping his face cleaned up but they aren't allowed to do anything with what's on top. After a few attempts to coordinate with the staff, Colleen and I were able to give him a haircut. I think Colleen wanted to just leave some of the puffy stuff on top and trim the rest and I threatened to go business in the front and party in the back but that just wouldn't be fair either since he can't complain.

Oh the gloves. Guess who doesn't like his seatbelt, feeding tube, or anything else attached to him? After he's pissed the nurses off enough, they put giant oven mitts on him so he can't mess with anything. It's a pretty common thing to see around there. He can be sneaky, don't let him talk you into taking them off.

He's awake most of the day now but he does still get tired. He's back to being out of bed all day and around 5 they put him back in to rest and get some food and medications. I've been real lucky and he's been awake most of the times I've seen him recently. Visitors have never been a problem, the isolation was more for the other patients, so still feel free to stop by evenings and weekends.

And now some Mom stuff. Sean Hansen, the computer teacher at Vanguard, made a video about being a teacher and included some pics of Mom at the end. Thank you Sean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWRhZ5R6mlw

Anyone who knew Mom can tell you, she always wanted a party to commemorate her life when she passed. To honor that wish we will be holding a celebration of her life on Sunday November 20th, from 6pm to 9pm at the Wyndham Garden in Exton, PA. We will have two of her favorite things for you to enjoy, coffee and a small selection of desserts. We need to know how many people will be attending the event; so we are asking that those of you who wish to attend please RSVP to us at purpleandblackwednesdays@gmail.com. Please let us know if you will be attending by November 1st.

We also request that you send any pictures you may have of her along with any stories/memories that you would be willing to share. Those items can be sent to the email address above also. We ask that these items are sent to us by November 1st also.