Friday, May 1st

Hello to everyone this evening. Tonight is a joint effort between Deidra and myself (Chance). The boys and I traveled back to our second home and arrived around 8:00 tonight. I have not become accustomed to Dallas traffic. Clay has a new cast on his left knee to keep it straight. He has a burn scar high on his left leg and the most comfortable position for him is to bend his leg up. DeeDee makes sure that he has his orange soft spike ball near his feet for comfort and self tickles. He sat near the window today and counted airplanes in and out of Love Field. Bonnie was his nurse. They brought his lunch tray while he was at the window. He elected to dine outside his room. Mom and Grandma watched as Bonnie helped him sample everything on his tray. He was not interested in any pureed food item until she got to the ice cream. This brightened him up a bit and he indicated he would like some more of it. Sounds like his brothers.
Several speech therapist came in today and Clay had some anxious moments when they covered his trach. He did not feel like he could breathe easily. It was a panic for a little bit, but they talked him through it. It feels different for him since he has not had to force air over his vocal chords for so long. When they cap the trach, he has to get used to breathing through his mouth and nose again. They did not leave the cap on today. They will come next week and place a cap, with a valve on it, over his trach. This will allow him to breathe air in through his trach tube, but force the air out through his mouth. It will take some time for him to get used to it. He was able to say "dad", "mom", "ahhhhh", and "bye". Some of the other nurses came in to hear him talk and clap for him. During the 5:00 visit, Bonnie was going to take him to the play room. He was sitting in his chair and pointed to the bed. He wanted to get in his bed instead of going to the play room. He had a busy day and wanted to sleep. At the last visit he realized it was dark outside and he did not want Mom and Grandma to leave. DeeDee went back in and gave him a hug. I think there were tears being shed by both Clay and Mom. All and all Clay had a busy day with the speech milestone being one we hope he can build upon in coming days. We pray each evening that the Lord will continue to strengthen Clay and comfort him when we are not in the room. Sweet dreams to all.