Thanks Ed

I read your response earlier today and I was trying to post back to you, to no avail with the internet.

Every day there is hope and everyday there are steps back.

His surgeon's assistant and I had a long talk two days ago. He is
optimistic. This is all so involved. In order to know how Ron is
neurologically, he
has to be able to speak.

They removed the ventilator last night...so this made me feel so
good and hopeful for him. However, he might still need it they said.
They said he can not be
on it much longer. A trach would be next. The Dr (surgeon) removed his
4 or 5 drains from his heart today...soo that was good. Then I had to
consent to a
suctioing procedure where his chest cavity was reopened and hurt from
the CPR. It is not healing. So, as I am trying to explain, there is so
much going on. I had to consent to a main line going into his other arm
because temporary lines can cause infection. They will use this for iv
and feeding. They had to
remove the feeding tube from his stomach due to complications. He is
unable to speak, even though off the ventilator. They did a swallow
test to see if they
could give him a little bit of water. He failed this test. They said if
they tried to give it to him that he would axsperate.

He has been responding on command, but the nurse told me today
that it is inappropriate response. An example is that I put a cloth on
his forehead as always
and she pointed out to me that he was grimacing like I did something
agonizing. He has a blank stare and his eyes are glazed. The nurse told
me he is there
but not there and they believe he has brain damage. I hope she is
wrong. As soon as I hear from is neurologist we ill know further. Today
he would squeeze
my hand on command but he was acting like he just was not there, as the
nurse pointed out. WIthout being able to talk, we do not know.