Whirlwind Vacation Birthday Trip, Day Two

The big news of the day by far is that Uncle Joe is becoming responsive; they’ve brought him up to the surface and he seems to be fighting to come back to us. He’s doing a lot of breathing on his own, and while he’s still agitated about not being able to talk, he’s made some very funny faces about it. And the grin on his face when he heard my voice, and opened his eyes to see me there? Warmed even the bottom of my bitter black heart. He held onto my hand and fell back asleep, but when I tried to let go he woke up and became more agitated. So like any good loving family member, I stood there (possibly telling him a dirty joke or two) and talked about nothing, sang to him, reassured him that while we all know it sucks like a big sucking thing that sucks a lot to not be able to talk… he’s not going anywhere. And he both nodded, made faces, shook his head… everything in the right places.

Now the hospital staff is talking about rehab; they might be moving him next week to an acute care facility that will give him rehab and wean him off the things he’s tubed up to, but isn’t an ICU. He might spend upwards of a month there (and yes, I’m already looking into coming back to Cincy at least once more, if Aunt Gay and Rusty will put up with me). All in all, things are looking like a road to recovery (albeit a slow one) than a road to sorrow.

After staying at the hospital for a few hours we went ahead and went to the Cincinnati Zoo, even though it was pouring down rain. We saw a giraffe! Actually, we saw more than one (and more animals than that), but I’m ganking wireless from a neighbor and thought it would be poor form to upload 50 or so photos. So the rest will have to wait until we get home.

After that it was off to the house of Guy and Becca, who are two completely wonderful people who have been holding Aunt Gay up with their hearts. I liked them immensely. And they had cats, who as you can tell from the photos, didn’t like Tim at all. HAHAHAHAHA.

Thank you, everyone, for all your cheering and love. Even if I don’t get back to you immediately, I want you to know how much I appreciate you all during this time. That’s partially not true – I appreciate you ALL of the time; but right now saying “thank you” might get lost in the shuffle, and I want you to know how much your support lifts my heart.