Update 3/22/2019

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Update from Theresa:

Today has been a very good day, so I want to take a moment to celebrate it.

Highlights:

• Josh has been very awake today
• Sat up in a stretcher chair for more than an hour with the help of OT & PT
• Was cleared by speech to eat ice chips and pureed food of a certain consistency. He had a whole cup of chocolate pudding and he tried pureed cheese pizza and pureed chicken and broccoli for dinner (I’ll share a photo in the comments) Opening his mouth is still a challenge and it tires him out but it’s a huge step forward.
• He’s been communicating with a dry erase board and pointing to yes and no, so it’s been so much easier to help meet his needs.
• He has been smiling and smirking a lot today.
• His friend Alex and my sister Sarah and her husband Steve came to visit. He always enjoys seeing everyone even if he can’t speak with them.
• Josh received a whole envelope of homemade cards from his classmates at Shepherd High School. We are reading them slowly to make them last, but they really brightened his day. We also received other gifts from our Bluejay family today and it is very much appreciated!
• They are testing turning off the drain that goes into the tumor resection cavity. If all goes well that drain tube will be able to be removed Monday
• Some movements on the right side, little ones but they still count.

One bit of information came in to dampen our day. They are working on the pathology for the tumor and although they are not ready to confirm anything it does not sound good. We will be meeting with his oncologist on Tuesday to confirm and to learn about the plan going forward.

Despite that news, there was a lot of things to celebrate today, so I’m going to focus on that!