Slow and steady wins the race: Dad update

Today marks a week that dad has been home. 9.4.13  Praise the Lord! To God be the Glory!

 

1. Infection was treated and is gone. Still continuing to finish round of antibiotic to ensure infection is completely gone.

 

2.He is regaining strength. He and mom  walk either up both set of stairs multiple reps, 5x a day or makes loops down in the basement. It's so hot outside they only do laps around the house in the early morning or late evening. But, his strength is improving daily.

 

3. He is continuing with his mouth exercises to maintain strength. He is also attempting liquids multiple times a day. He has not been successful often. 1 time mom thinks he swallowed but not sure. With everything still swollen and numbness in the new throat, it is difficult to feel anything going on. But, many times he will just spit out the liquid. Please pray for continued healing, motivation to continue trying, and patience as this will take time. Swelling will supposedly take 2-3 more months to go down. I think if he could see the long-term goal, the big picture 9 months- 1 year from now, he would be very encouraged. He and mom have joined a website/support group online called web whisperers. It is a great support group and his ENT is very involved with it as well. So, that has been a blessing as a few people have emailed them with similar surgeries and success stories.

 

4. He has an old dinosaur communication device that's been around since probably world war II. Not really, but in the speech world, it's old and basic. It's called an electrolarynx and sounds very mechanical. Dad isn't interested in using it. I can't blame him. If everything heals well, he is a candidate for a later surgery in 3-4 months where they insert a prosthetic speech device between his airway and esophagus. He is very interested in this. It is called TEP speech. His chosen form of communication for now is gestures and writing. He has used a few apps that talk for him. But, it's not worth the time to him :)

 

5. Please pray for his motivation. I don't just think, I know this is a very low time in his life. I can only imagine. Please pray that words of encouragement saturate his mind and heart. Please pray that His Word is even more encouraging and alive to him daily.

 

Thank you all for following along in prayer and thoughts and email responses during this time.

I know I haven't responded to all the emails. Please know I've read each and every one of them and they have encouraged me greatly during this tough time.

We praise Him for healing and life!