Recovering Nicely, but Hospital Stay Extended

Hello,

The past couple of days have seen huge progress in how Mike is physically recovering. On Sunday afternoon we learned that he had passed his swallow test and was now allowed to eat food on his own. After enjoying a couple of meals successfully, the nurse removed the feeding tube. Hooray! Even hospital food tastes good to Mike after 9 days of not eating! 

He is also up and walking around his room more, learning to navigate with one eye. It will take his brain time to adjust to this different level of depth perception and limited vision off to the left side, but he is doing well so far. 

The ENTs scoped his throat yesterday and discovered that his left vocal cord isn't moving. A CT scan shed more light on that, and Mike will undergo another surgery on Thursday with the goal of repairing that vocal cord and associated cartilage that help it to work properly (but there is no guarantee of success). His voice is very gravelly right now and according to the ENTs will not have a chance of improving without this surgery. Mike cannot go home with his trach still in at this point, and the trach must stay in until after the surgery, so we'll have another waiting day tomorrow. Then he will be in the hospital trauma care for 1-2 days after the surgery, with the goal of being discharged on Saturday, hopefully without the trach. 

It has become very difficult to persevere mentally, being in the hospital day after day, but we sure have appreciated our visitors who have helped to break up the days and encourage our hearts. We continue to be amazed and grateful for all of our dear friends who are taking such great care of our kids and helping to look after our farm. And we certainly could not have made it this far without the huge support and practical help from my parents. 

Here are some updated prayer requests:

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! We cherish our loving community of family and friends all across the US.