May 9: Gerry's progress continued ... from Gina

Gerry last Thanksgiving at Big Bear Lake, CA.

5/9/04 9:40 p.m.

Dear Friends & Family,

First of all, Happy Mother's Day! I hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful day!

Our praise reports continue! Gerry continues to get stronger every day! Today we found out that he is officially "off the vent"! He's been breathing entirely on his own for the last two nights and doing great, so they took the vent out of his room. We are praying that he continues to get stronger in all areas. The next step is to remove the trach which will happen when they are entirely sure he can clear his own airway if necessary. And also after he builds up his strength and they feel he is consistently strong in his breathing. This is something they won't rush into, and we are so grateful for the doctor's great care and work to wean Gerr off the vent!

It has been about 5 weeks since Gerry's mouth was wired shut. We were told at Riverside that it would be wired for 4-6 weeks, so Gerry's primary doctor at Kindred is checking to see if we are able to remove those wires yet. We're hoping they will be removed soon which will allow the therapists to move forward with speech therapy. Physical therapy and coma stimulation therapy continue to go well.
Gerry continues to tolerate sitting up for periods of time, and is handling keeping his head up for 10-15 seconds or so at a time. He also continues to react well to smells, turning away from strong scents like ammonia and turning towards more appealing scents like mint. We are so excited to see his periods of alert time increasing and are noticing some increase in facial expressions. He still has much movement in his legs and feet, and also in his arms and hands. He seems hyper-sensitive (like he's really ticklish, which Lori said he never was to that extent) to touch on his feet, and we are told that sensitivity is increased at this stage of his progress. All of this is very exciting as we literally see changes in Gerry almost daily, and certainly weekly. Praise God!

We continue to pray and ask for your prayers that Gerry's progress continues and that he will "break through" and emerge from the coma. Thank you all and God Bless!

Gina