Day 5

No bad news is good news to us!

Today, they did not have Dad on a diuretic, because it apparently did what they wanted it to do yesterday. The CT scan did not show any additional swelling, which is also good. We are about at the point in time where the swelling would be at it's peak and we're looking for it to begin to subside. So from that standpoint, we're holding at the mark and ready to come back down.

Dad continues to move in his bed ... raising his knees and lowering them every so often. He will turn his head back and forth, and sometimes open his eyes slightly. He is still sedated until the swelling is on it's way down, and he still moves his hands in a manner indicating he is aware of the ventilator and would prefer to remove that tube!

A physical therapist visited today to keep those limbs moving, and will be showing some exercises that can be conducted with his hands and arms, even when he is sedated, to keep the limbs moving.

So we will post another update tomorrow. Again, we appreciate everyone being willing to help us out with observing the "No Visitors" rule for us ... it just makes it easier for Mom to focus on Dad, and for the doctors and nurses to get done what they need to get done. Your online comments (which you can add below) and reassurances of prayer and encouragement are all we really need at this stage.

On a humorous note, a fine colleague of mine here at The Coca-Cola Company called his church to request a mass in honor of Dad for healing. You can imagine how incredulous this sounded when he made the call to the church office. (And this is all truthful, yet paraphrased here.)

"Yes, hello ... this is Jimmy Carter. I would like to request a mass please."
"Jimmy Carter? OK. [Pause] And what is the name of the individual you're requesting a mass for?"
"George Bush."
"Ah-hah ... ok, we'll let you know."

Well, indeed my colleague is named Jimmy Carter, and he eventually got a call from one of the church leaders telling him that he had the church up in arms over a "Jimmy Carter" calling in to request a mass for "George Bush." Of course, he had to confirm to the secretary that indeed there was a Jimmy Carter in their congregation, and that this was not a prank call!