"You're going to get it now"

He said in a whispered voice.  That's right, Bill spoke yesterday.  We had a much needed day full of good news.  Linda was in a great mood and couldn't wait to spread it around.  No, he hasn't gotten up and walked out of the hospital, although that would be a miracle we have all been praying for.  He was able to actually speak his 1st words since all of this happened.  Yes, it was a whisper but it was better than the mouth charades we were dealing with.  And his first words in true ornery Bill style.  They have to release the balloon from the trach when they do this so it isn't like he can talk from here on out, but they at least give him some time where he can have the balloon off. 

His puffiness is going down and he was off of the vent from about 9 to well after 5 yesterday.  Great, great signs.  He also wasn't as sedated.  Nothing came back on the cat scan except that he does have fluid in his chest cavity, but not in his lungs, which again, is not ideal, but better than fluid in the lungs.  He is supposed to have another swallow test soon to see if he can start having liquids.  He did have some heart issues last night or the night before (I have forgotten which) but they got that taken care of and it doesn't seem to be an issue right now.  He couldn't feel it when it was happening but you could see it on the screen apparently. 

Linda is thinking another week for him to be in there (NTICU).  They are still dealing with the staph infection, but don't know how long that will linger.  And they are also still considering the spinal fusion surgery in his neck, but Linda is trying not to think about that.  Hopefully he can be transferred soon and one step closer to his recovery. 

See, the prayers are working.  We had a much needed day yesterday especially after the weekend.  Please keep them coming and again I can't thank you all enough.

A side note, the Life flight helicopter was a big hit with the boys when we were there last weekend.  We spent a lot of time in the sky walk where you can see the helicopter pretty well.  Linda was talking to one of the male nurses yesterday and explaining how much her boys loved it.  He happens to be part of the team of nurses that will fly with them when needed.  He offered to give an up close and personal tour of the helicopter letting them sit in it and all the next time they come.  That would make their entire week. Hopefully we can work something out for this weekend.  I would really love for them to do that, but I'm not saying anything yet because if it doesn't happen I will be known as the worst mother on earth!  Plus, you all should really hear Waylon say "helll I cop ttteeeRRR".  It's the cutest thing ever. 

As you can probably tell this is pretty much constantly on my mind.  It is still unbelievable to us.  Yesterday on the way home I was just thinking about how active he was.  How he would goose the boys or go outside and build makeshift playgrounds for them or throw a ball or something small like that.  Things we take for granted being able to do every single day of our lives and to think he can't even poke his grandsons in the sides and make that funny duck sound anymore that makes them crack up.  I can just hear him yell "Hey" at the boys as he did pretty much every Sunday when he would come in for our family dinners.  I miss it like mad and took it for granted when that time was here.  That kills me.  My prayer yesterday that I repeated on my 50 minute drive home was to give him his life back.  God can do that.  Maybe that is selfish because he is still with us, but I want him as close to normal as possible.  God CAN do that.