every five minutes . . .

The road to recovery is well underway but still has a few speed bumps along the way.

This morning Tyler had a rough start of things. In the past 36-hours he's only slept for a total of about 20 minutes at a time. The steroids he's been taking for the past three weeks to help his asthma also keeps him wired.

He'll fall asleep for a few minutes then wake up to need suction, a breathing treatment, milk or a diaper change. It's tough to need sleep when you're in the hospital cause nobody will let you.

This afternoon his naughty hand struck again. During my five minute absence from his room he managed to get his naughty hand over to the arterial line that was just placed.

As I walked back into his room he pointed to his arm and handed me the wire. As I looked down on his bed sheet -- I couldn't help but notice an 8-inch pool of blood and his arm was literally draining out of the vein. So I had to hold a washcloth on his arm while trying to summon the nurse. Respiratory finally heard my plea for help and ran and got Tyler's nurse.

Poor Tyler. He doesn't quite understand that all the tubes and wires are really there to help him. All he knows is he wants them off his body.

naughty hands

Tyler's naughty hand has gotten him in trouble for years.

For many of you that aren't familiar with his 'naughty hand' let me fill you in.

Tyler's right hand is often times referred to as his 'naughty hand.' It is a separate being from himself. Whenever something would get broken, hit, smashed or ruined by Tyler -- he would offer you his right hand as evidence that IT was the reason for the breakage. Tyler actually had nothing to do with it. It was all the 'naughty hands' fault.

Well -- last night during the wee hours of the morning -- that 'naughty hand' struck again. It pulled the trach out of Tyler's neck and the arterial line out of Tyler's wrist. All he could do was to offer up the 'naughty hand' as proof that he had nothing to do with the terror.

Hopefully this is evidence that Tyler is on the slow road to recovery. If the 'naughty hand' is feeling better -- I'm pretty sure that Tyler is feeling better.

the hardest thing to do . . .

One of the most difficult things to do is to leave the hospital without Tyler. He has to stay a bit longer to help his respiratory status improve.

Walking through the hallways late in the evening - all the hospital departments have closed for the day. All one can hear is the echo of footsteps. I should be hearing the sound of 'woo hoo' or 'hi mom' or 'get out'

Those are the sounds that I often times will hear from Tyler.

I really don't like to wish my life away but I do wish the next two weeks would just go by in the blink of an eye so our lives can return to normal.

reading story books and smiling for dad

It's early Saturday morning and the phone is ringing. As I look at the caller I.D. it says: Scottsdale Healthcare. That's the hospital that Tyler is in so my stomach sinks.

The nurse caring for him just wanted to call me to say that Tyler is doing great and she's thrilled with his progress. She had cared for him when he was admitted more than two weeks ago and again last week when he wasn't doing so well.

I entered Tyler's hospital room this morning and he was full of smiles. Craig had gone down earlier in the morning an was reading his one of his favorite story books: Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Tyler knows the story very well. He knows when George gets his shot and the pretty nurse takes very good care of him.

When the story was finished Tyler was exhausted. He's still very tired and has lost a bit of weight. He's already thin enough and really can't afford to lose much more. He quickly fell asleep but not before posing for the camera.

The twinkle in his eyes is returning and he is trying very hard to smile.

sleeping like a baby

Although he's exhausted and sleeping through the day and night -- Tyler has made a tremendous amount of improvement in the past 24-hours.

The physicians plan was to keep Tyler on the oxygen and mist collar throughout the day and use the ventilator at night to help him rest -- Tyler will not cooperate with that.

Simply put -- he hates the ventilator.

So he's on the oxygen and mist collar all day and all night with respiratory and blood gas results coming back good.

Now the easy part begins. We have to get our home ready for Tyler and the entourage of medical staff that comes with him. He'll need nursing care for the times that Craig or I are not able to help him. He'll need physical therapists to help him get his strength back and learn to use his body again and the physicians who will be watching him very closely.

The picture listed above was taken this afternoon. He's tired. He's exhausted. He's ready to come home.

a huge sigh of relief

Tyler made a huge step forward today.

The C.P.A.P. breathing help he was getting was turned off and he was placed onto humidified air with a little bit of additional oxygen added. This is placed over his trach using a trach collar.

He is breathing all on his own with very minimal assistance from the extra oxygen.

He still doesn't like the I.V. in his arms or the electrodes all over his chest but he wouldn't be him if he liked anything about the hospital.

We still have a little way to go before he comes home but I'll take any move forward that I can.

The photo shown above was taken while visiting our daughter - Christi - in Tucson. He's showing support for sis.

another small step forward

Well Tyler had a pretty good night last night. He rested as quietly as he could and did very well on the C.P.A.P. all day yesterday.

Today he'll get challenged more with his respiratory status to get him off the ventilator.