Wednesday, April 8th

Good evening to all. Clay had a very busy and eventful day. He had a restful night. This is good because he needed it today. At the 8:00 visit the occupational therapist came in and spent about an hour and a half making Clay a new removable cast for his right wrist and hand. She is attempting to stretch the fingers down so he can eventually make a fist. She worked with him for quite a while. We told him that he was the first of the Fite brothers to get his own cast and we could sign it for him if he wanted. When she was finished he started raising his right hand and pointing. We could not understand what he was wanting until Mom realized he was wanting us to sign his new cast. No sooner had the O.T. left when the Physical therapy team showed up and gave his legs a good workout and then set him up in his bed and let him set up unassisted for a few minutes. By now it was after 11:00 and Stephanie still had to do his dressing change. We ran downstairs for a quick lunch and came back in around 12:15 for Clay's field trip. He was placed on another bed and guided through the mazes and tunnels of Parkland over to Children's Hospital for his upper G.I. test. This procedure went well. Deidra, Stephanie, Jolyn, and I all were allowed to stay in the room while he was being tested and we could talk him through the entire process which went off with out a hitch. They told us Clay's stomach and intestines looked perfect. First thing this morning he started indicating that he wanted ice. We told him maybe after his test. After all of the morning activities, the test and the two long trips intra hospital, when we wheeled him through the door of his ICU room he looked at us all and said ice. You can bet he had not forgotten. He was quickly given several chips, after which he promptly went to sleep. I had an opportunity to visit with Dr. Purdue this morning. He was optimistic and pointed out how far we have come. He wanted us to know that Clay is making progress in spite of the recent bumps in the road. He said that there will come a time down the road when Clay will not be able to stay in the ICU because there will be people coming in with burns that are going to be worse than Clay's. We don't expect this to happen anytime soon but we know that every day is progress. Clay was resting soundly the last two visits of the day and we know he was pretty worn out. We pray for anther good night that he can use as a springboard in his recovery. Thank you to everyone for your gracious cares, thoughts, and prayers. Good Night.