Update, plus another work day at Ryan's

Several folks visited Ryan yesterday, which has become a part of his routine of meals, exercise, traveling around the hospital with his mom in his chair, and basically being a celebrity on his hall among all of the nurses and staff. He is very alert, and continues to communicate more clearly, though much of it still is confusing or garbled, his use of inflection alone suggests clarity of thought. He is establishing a collection of gifts, the centerpiece of course being the near life sized Sadie stuffed animal. While Ryan does experience a tremendous amount of discomfort throughout the day which prompts him to become frustrated, it all seems to be a part of his faculties and strength coming back.

Again, its very important to understand that his improvement will be slow and incremental for many weeks to come. Walking around his floor, you can't help but be hopeful by the constant reminders of how far he has come and how far those who started their rehab before he did have come. In particular, a neighbor of Ryan's clearly had a similar injury as evidenced by his matching head scar, but has been in rehab longer and has made tremendous progress. Seeing those who haven't come as far as Ryan and those who are where Ryan is trying to go is like seeing a cross section of the possibility for progress and each of his floor mates personify a mile marker on Ryan's path to recovery.

We hope to keep pace with Ryan as far as the 'rehab' of his house goes. As posted earlier, the floors and cabinets on the right side of his house are completed and just today the front of the house was painted blue. Another big milestone is that all of the remaining debris left over from when Ryan gutted the house is now out from underneath and in a dumpster ready to be hauled away. Please come out this Saturday to help finish painting the exterior of his house (a color scheme stolen directly from Pal's Lounge, selected by Ryan himself). We will be there from 10a-4p and please email jim@pnola.org to let me know you're coming so I know how many to prepare for. Even if you already know how to get there, please let me know you'll be there.

Even though I don't care for hockey, or Boston, let's all root for the Bruins for Ryan!