Saturday, May 05, 2007

Steps Forward

Ali is inching forward. Yesterday during Charity's visit, Ali really responded to her voice and touch. Ali made little fists and squirmed and coughed. Her little heart began to beat faster; all obvious signs of excitement and response to her mamma.

Charity was able to hold Ali. That took a team of people, but the nurses made it happen. The medical staff was excited to see this because they had been kicking around the idea of removing the breathing tube. They began to prepare Ali for this, last night by switching from solid food to an I.V. to make sure she was adequately hydrated before the big event.

Today Ali's paternal grandfather, and Auntie arrived for a visit. With us all standing by, the doctor, nurse, and respiratory therapist went to work moving tubes, wiping, listening, pulling, and watching. Other nurses left their posts to watch it all go down. Everybody was on pins and needles hoping for the best and ready to act if Ali wasn't ready.

Ali let loose with a string of raspy coughs. This is good. For the first time, beneath the raspiness, I could identify her unique vocal sound. It was Ali's voice forcing out those coughs.

In the picture to the right, observe that the breathing apparatus in the pictures above is gone. They just have a small oxygen feed in her nostrils.

Kudos to the San Francisco police. The officers that were present at the hospital came by to visit Ali today and were very kind to me. I appreciate their professionalism and offers to help me navigate the city.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bryon! I'm so happy. Tears of joy for the first time in many days after reading your blog. :) We will keep praying for small but significant steps forward.

Anonymous said...

Praising God with you for this great progress report!! We're praying that God gives Charity a Mother's Day Miracle! Go God!!!

Anonymous said...

ALRIGHT! Yeah MAN! I'm so happy! PRAISE JESUS! He is so great!
HAppy fo ryou guys!

Mike West said...

Encouraging Bryon....we're praying for a miracle.
Love,
Mike & Mary West

Anonymous said...

Count me in on the tears of joy...blurring my eyes, in fact. I'm so glad--heart glad--to know Ali's making progress! Thought of you all many times over the weekend and just didn't have time to check in.

On to your next....