A Gatorade Emergency

Last night was really tough. We sat with Andrew for a long time. He was having bad withdrawals from the meds. He kept trying to pull out stuff. We had to restrain him. It was hard for me. Even after all this time, he is still quite strong. Finally, I was exhausted and told the nurse to tie him up! We slept in a little this morning and when we called his room, we learned that he had been sitting in a chair by his window for 2 hours. We ran upstairs to see him sitting there. First, he gave Randall a hug. Then I got a hug from him. This was the moment I have been waiting for, for so long. Next, he asked for some gatorade. They had to take him to radiology to check his swallowing. They gave him different textures with barium in it. What we saw on the screen was his skeletal image and the fluids going down his throat. It reminded me of that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. So he got the go ahead to drink a small amount every hour. The surgical team changed his wound vac's this afternoon. He was so tired that they only gave him 5 ml of medicine while doing so. Everything looked great! The surgeon is really happy. When they were done, we sat with him again. I walked in with a drink. He asked me to bring it to him. I said "it's diet". Yuck. Then he said, I want a slurpie. We weren't sure that he could have one. So Andrew said, "bring me your phone." I said, "who do you want to call?" I called Ashley for him. The first thing he said to her is "bring me a slurpie!" Ian, Andrew's wonderful nurse, went and found one for him. Next, they took an ultrasound of his leg. The leg had previously had the canula in it. They were checking blood flow. Andrew became concerned when they were conversing about the results. He said, "oh, no! I am paralyzed!" We all started laughing and told him "no, you're not!" Andrew said to Randall "look in my mouth" so Randall looked in it. Andrew said "I want a drink." Grandma S. put lotion on his hands. Grandpa talked to Andrew about the Jazz game. Tracy Webb, our friend from Germany, came by and told Andrew that soon she will play him in basketball. She told him that she won't give him any sympathy just because he's been in the hospital. She said, "I'll take ya!" Andrew reached up and took her hand in a grip and pulled her toward him to show her that he's still got it! Then Andrew decided that he doesn't like pink or red gatorade. He wants blue! So I called Ashley and told her that we were having a gatorade emergency. She and Dustin ran up some blue gatorade to Andrew. Randall had Andrew count while he stretched his leg out. Then they talked about what Andrew can do when he is not feeling well i.e., relax, breath, stretch, and pray. So Randall said, "should we have a prayer?" "Yes!" "Who do you want to say it?" "Dustin". So Dustin proceeded to pray and Andrew said amen before it was over. Then he said "that was the best prayer ever!" It has been wonderful to interact with Andrew again. We want to thank Randall's work for the help and cooperation with Randall's work schedule. So many wonderful people are helping us to be able to be there for Andrew. We appreciate Grandpa Spilker letting us have access to the trailer. He is awesome! Andrew sat in a chair for nearly 4 hours today. He brushed his own teeth. He started eating and drinking. I used to take small, simple things for granted. We sat there and got all excited over Andrew taking a sip of Gatorade. We are so grateful!!! Just a note: we received word that people out of state are unable to access the donation account for Andrew. Randall is working on a solution. We will let you know when we have it. Right now, it is only possible to access it locally.