Stu and Lin: A few short steps on a long journey

A few short steps on a long journey
Feb 23, 2008

Lin is not yet awake. She is making a little progress. Lin moves her arms and legs spontaneously and will purposely react to painful stimuli. This is an improvement from previous days. The doctors have replaced the ET tube (in the mouth) with a tracheostomy (yes, she has a hole in her throat). This will allow better control of breathing and will greatly increase comfort while reducing the risk of infection. Her feeding tube will be taken care of on Monday. According to the staff she is stabilizing. Each day the various teams come in and make adjustment to her care. Her “numbers” continue to improve and the wild swings are now minor little blips. All of this is good and a step in the right direction. How far Lin will come back and when is unknown. While science can accomplish many things, the knowledge of the brain is still somewhat mysterious. I can only hope that with these improvements, healing will accelerate and recovery will start in earnest. I have started conversations with the Hospital about the next step. I am not sure what, where etc. that will be. I will be discussing that with her neurosurgeon. Until then Lin and I are blessed with good family, friends, weather and a terrific medical center.

Thanks for everyone’s emails, phone calls, thoughts and prayers, they have been very helpful for me and Lin. I wish I could give each of you a big hug and say thank you in person. Soon!!

Stu