"Frita was there when I got there, apparently she has been visiting him quite often as she lives in close proximity to Trinity. When I arrived, Ryan was sitting up somewhat in the bed, and immediately perked up when I walked in. I said, 'what's up' and extended my hand, and he said 'hi' and extended his in my general direction! He without a doubt knew who I was. I gave him a picture of us from our first Halloween in NOLA, he studied it, and (mostly) the girls we were with in the picture posing with us dressed as the Fembots on Bourbon Street (it was 2001, very topical ;). I asked him if he remembered the girls in the picture, whom we knew from school, and he said that he did. We talked about how he was feeling better, and he conveyed to me that his leg, which was previously having bothersome spasms was now seemingly much better than it was during my last visit. His leg was almost fully extended, and was noticeably improved, even to the untrained eye. He did not scream at all during my visit, probably because he was not experiencing any spasms. He sat there and named off the names of all of the people that had recently visited him, both friends and family from here and out of town. You could see the happiness in his face. All of these things are vast improvements from the last time that I had seen him. Trinity is no longer performing the rigorous physical therapy with him during the day, now they are doing some sort of 'hyper-baric treatment' so he was not as tired as he usually is in the evening, AND I think that Ryan is now on the same regiment as TO (he is focusing on his 'acting' career too ;). I'm sure that there are still good days and bad days however, it was good to see him attentive, responsive, and in good spirits."
Sounds like one of the better visits in recent history! Thanks for the update Brett! Now that Ryan is coming along even better, I'd like to encourage everyone to go see him. I will be going there on Saturday so if anyone wants to carpool just email me: jim@pnola.org.
Ryan's Dad, Frank, had some other great pieces of news to add as well:
"Ryan’s whole family should be with him for a week at Christmas, as his sister Regan, her husband Dave and their baby Wesley, and his brother Erik and his fiancée Katy are planning to come down for a week.
Ryan seems to like receiving phone calls. Carol says that on the days she is at Trinity or on the weekends when we both are there she would be happy to have any of Ryan’s friends and acquaintances call Ryan by calling Carol’s cell phone, 504-317-0585, and she will put Ryan on. She is generally there three days a week, from 11am to 5:30pm central time and on weekends we are often there in the evenings.
Ryan is now independent enough to be taken to the dining room to eat his breakfast and lunch there with the other patients. "
That, along with Brett's visit, are incredibly encouraging to us all I'm sure!
Also, I am donating to Ryan for the Saints vs. Lions ticket, so there are only two more home games up for grabs. The Falcons on 12/26 has already been called dibs on, so really if you want to make a contribution towards Ryan's recovery and see the Saints road to the Superbowl while doing it then your last chance is the Panthers game, the last game of the season, on New Years Day!
Also, I am donating to Ryan for the Saints vs. Lions ticket, so there are only two more home games up for grabs. The Falcons on 12/26 has already been called dibs on, so really if you want to make a contribution towards Ryan's recovery and see the Saints road to the Superbowl while doing it then your last chance is the Panthers game, the last game of the season, on New Years Day!
