Good Morning!

Another sunny, mild morning here at IMC.  Christian spent the night with Gilbert & Jenny (Jessi's brother-in-law and sister), Eric Jones & Wayne Vance (close friends), Spencer & Jenn (brother with girlfriend), and Justin (brother), in different shifts of course.  One thing that has been so amazing is the willingness of Christian's friends to want to jump in and help out.  That level of support is expected from family, but when friends are so willing to drop their regular lives and come spend hours of their time, in the middle of the night, to be at Christian's side, it's a true testament firstly to Christian and how loved he is and second to the general goodness of humanity.  People are good, people care, they give of themselves to serve those who are in a time of need, although there are some bad apples in the world, there aren't enough to spoil the bunch. 

Chris has been completely off the ventilator since last evening.  So far his breathing stats look good.  He's coughing up quite a bit of "gunk" which comes out of the hole in his neck, but that is normal and a good sign.  You don't want to be leaning down for a hug or kiss when he starts "hacking his fool head off" (see explanation of that saying in previous post), for fear of getting a face shot of yuckiness :-).

They have him sitting up at a fairly good angle most of the time and rotate him every two hours from left to right.  He gets fairly uncomfortable at times and has been in some pain.  It's surely frustrating for him to not be lying in a comfortable position and at the same time not be able to move!  During the night they have been giving him pain medication every 4 hours.  He usually takes a 2 - 3 hour nap shortly after a new dose, so he has been able to get a fair amount of rest.

His spirits seem high all things considered.  The nurses were joking around a bit this morning and Christian was able to share in the laugh with several smiles, it's good to have those moments where the mood is light and bright.  We're doing our best to exercise our lip reading skills.  For the most part we can usually figure out what he wants/needs.  He gets a little frustrated at times during this process, which is a sign of his personality coming through.  Chris always likes to be in control.

We continue to pray and hope for further progress.  We've been extremely blessed with the progress he's made so far.  We know this can change for the worse, but remain optimistic and faithful.  We feel your prayers and support.  God bless you all!