Alan’s Army

Its pouring rain in Philly yet again, but Alan looks much better today!

The wounds on his head and belly from the shunt operation hurt a little bit but no big deal.  He’s been downgraded to plain old regular Tylenol -  “No more good stuff” says Alan.   :^(

They did a series of X-rays this morning to check out the shunt in his belly - no word yet on those but Alan doesn’t have a headache so it must be working!

At about 9:30 the Physical Therapists took him for a walk down the hallway and were thrilled with how far his left side has come.

The Speech Therapist was in and with a little coaching, and deliberate thought, Alan was able to add some inflection to his speech (note: she’s also way cute.)  She was pleased and said she thought he could have a script for outpatient speech therapy.  She is also going to have an opthamologist see Alan to take a look at his sight issues which haven’t improved.

At 1:30 they unplugged him from everything, and removed all his sensors - he’s a free man!  They expect to move him to a regular room later today.

We saw the PA who is going to check again on the tumor and brain fluid pathology results.  She also said that the PT folks were so pleased with his progress this morning that they are going to skip the in-patient rehab and send him home instead!

We will now have to check out where he can get good out-patient therapy.  Who knows - maybe he can end up getting matching appointments and ride along with his grandfather when he does his knee replacement therapy!

So in all, #16 is a very good update.  Please keep the prayers coming on the tumor pathology, that’s the next huge obstacle.

I had a nice chat on the phone today with a dear disc golf friend - Sam Covington of Innova in Rock Hill, SC.   He asked if Alan and I would be down for the United States Disc Golf Championships again in October and I told him absolutely!  Besides praying for Alan he sends his kind regards to BOB and Kit and reminds them that they still need to “do lunch.”  We certainly will all do that in October Sam!  Our best to Zeb and all the Innova staff who have been keeping Alan in prayer!

I will send another update later with room info and driving directions so those who are close enough can visit.

Thanks all and God Bless,

Big Dog