Sam's Journey - Day 29

Sam has had several days of relative quiet. We've been doing a lot of different things, and with little news to report, the blog was quiet as well. The general rule of thumb with the blog is No News is Good News, or in other terms, No News means No Bad News. I'm sure it breaks some unwritten protocol somewhere for effective blogging, but that's me, ever the rebel. In reality, we've been pretty busy. On Thursday, Jim and Aaron drove back to college in Boulder, and Jim flew home on Friday morning. About an hour after he got to the hospital, Aaron called saying the wipers had gone out, because there's really just not enough going on right now. (They are fixed now.) Today, I drove to see Sarah's softball tournament in Round Rock (3 hours each way) since she's kind of getting the short end of the stick lately. She was really surprised to see me. They won one and lost one, and it was painfully cold and windy out there. (With the wind, Feels Like temp was around 35 degrees.) I think they were just glad when it was over and could get inside a warm place. She's really starting to find her groove, and had a couple of RBI's and a nice catch in center field after which she almost picked the runner off second. I'm glad I was able to go, and it was very nice to be able to visit with people and be a somewhat normal mom. 

I know what you are most interested in is hearing about Sam's progress, so I won't make you wait any longer. Considering the situation in which he finds himself, he is doing great. His levels all seem to be trending in the right direction, and his kidneys are handling everything well all on their own. Today, they removed his NJ tube, which means the G tube is also working well. The little bit of swelling after the surgery to replace the bone flap continues to go down. He is really starting to look like himself. On the not so positive side, something he does that is simply jarring to hear is when he grinds his teeth. He was a grinder before all of this, and it was equally cringeworthy then. I'll take teeth grinding over kidney failure and a TBI any day, though.

The big, fun news of the day is that he was responding to the request to move his right thumb! Prior to that, Jim and I were having a rough time because it was All State audition day. We are sincerely happy for those that made it, but Sam put his heart and soul into that, and we know he would have done well. It all just seems so grossly unfair. But after he moved his thumb on command, that all went away. We really feel like there is something bigger than All State waiting for this child, and the thumb is just another baby step in the right direction. In addition to that, his expression seems, to us at least, to be more interactive. His eyes appeared to just be more reactive to conversation and have more emotion behind them. It's hard to explain what I was seeing, but in my heart of hearts, I really feel like he will be coming out of his current state soon, which leads me to an update on someone else.

I got an email from Donna saying that one month to the day from his accident, Kyle completely woke up and was moved to rehab the next day. Despite the exhausting work of recovery, he continues to improve. This is incredible news, and it gives us hope that one day soon, that will happen for Sam, too. Also, I just checked on young Aaron's page, and it appears that he is doing ok in the same way that Sam is. Good stuff!

Thank you for your continued prayers. The MRI is still scheduled for Monday, and we believe he will be moved to "the floor" around that time as well. (I'm thinking it is just the regular trauma floor.) This means he no longer requires trauma ICU services. Woot! Your continued prayers for improvement, good MRI results and that Sam "wakes up" soon are appreciated. Thank you, #teamsam!

Photo swap! Thanks, Sharon, for finding one with thumbs up! This is from their mission trip in Chicago/National Youth Gathering in Detroit this past summer.