Only a minor "bump in the road"

As Forrest is getting stronger and moving more often through the day the drainage from the major surgical site on his back increased and unfortunately the drain tubing clotted creating a large pocket of fluid in his back. The tubing is open again and we are hopeful that overnight the swelling in his back will start resolving and our escape tomorrow will not be delayed.  Dr. Kumar came by to see Forrest again tonight and is optimistic that the graft is going to be good and the drainage will resolve without surgical intervention.   Throughout this uncomfortable day Forrest has powered on, refusing additional pain medication,  even managing to feed Toliver himself tonight!  Toliver was delighted to bring Forrest his bowl and waited politely until Forrest said the magic words "Go for it Tolly" before chowing down. 

As eager as we are to get home, we will miss the many wonderful nurses, doctors, and physical therapists who have helped Forrest immeasurably during his stay at Johns Hopkins.  They clearly have been as delighted and amazed by Forrest's rapid progress as we are.  After many painful and prolonged recoveries, it is a thrill to see him doing so well at this stage. There are bound to be hurdles ahead but he is strong and we are blessed by your love and support.

With Nurse Dawn standing watch bedside tonight, Tami and I begin packing up our 44 outpost.  Transport support team Rebekah and Kent arrive in the morning and with any luck we will be BrightWood Bound tomorrow.  

 

Mum & Team 44

Physical Therapy today

Although Forrest's balance is precarious and his strength is far from his pre-surgical baseline, his determination and enthusiasm are as robust as ever. His PT asked him for 10 marching steps while seated bedside and of course Forrest proceeded to give her 15. Del would be so proud of his Champ!  

After an arduous hike down the hall to a big window overlooking the Baltimore Harbor, with two fantastic therapists to keep Forrest safe and on track, Toliver rewarded Forrest with HIS preferred form of physical therapy... FETCH!!!  They have both been waiting for this exquisitely precious toss of the ball. 

Tami will be Forrest's guardian angel tonight to make sure he practices his extraordinary thumb wrestling technique and doesn't attempt another unauthorized exit from the bed. Thankfully, either Tami or Nurse Dawn have been bedside at night and have intervened successfully to keep that precious Noggin safe around the clock. 

If our consults go well tomorrow and Forrest continues to make steady progress, without infection or other complications, we just might make it home to Brightwood on Thursday!!!! 

Whew. That would be sweet. 

Thrilled to be on the homestretch,

Mum and Team Forrest

More Firsts for Forrest

It's been another long but successful day at Johns Hopkins filled with more Forrest Firsts!   Although Forrest stood tall yesterday with Austin, today he was ready to walk & with Pops steady arm and his PT's supervision he took his first steps.  Forest thoroughly enjoyed his first visit from Nurse Alpha at Johns Hopkins. They reminisced about a lot of long-ago "firsts" they shared together.  Today was Forrest's first day without morphine and the first of his drains were removed. This evening Forrest had his first solid food, chicken noodle soup from Whole Foods. And he was strong enough and his voice clear enough to have his first post surgical Face Time With super Bro Austin and then with Gio and Shayna.  The cheerful banter and laughter filled the room with bright healthy energy.  

Toliver & I are both happily exhausted just trying to keep up with your progress Champ. Can't wait for tomorrow !  

Sweet dreams,

Mum

He's Back!!!

Only Four days out from a mind boggling surgery and Forrest is already coming back strong!  Your prayers, visits, blog comments, messages, and love are all having their powerful effect. 

We were blessed with Austin's special energy over the weekend.   And  visits from Austin's friends, the Lees, and Tom Kim & Kyle from A aplace To Be added their magic to his recovery. Instead of tiring he just got brighter throughout the day!  

He may be swollen and sore but his spirit still shines through. Tonight Tami & Angel have his back and though there are still many hurdles ahead, truly... anything is possible.

God Bless and Good Night,

Mum & Team 44

Getting Stronger

Today was my first day back with Forrest in a couple of weeks, and as always, it was inspiring. Forrest is hanging in there. He gave his first smile in several days this morning! Several friends visited throughout the day and elicited more ear-to-ear grins.  He even threw a soft football back and forth a few times. He's uttered a few soft phrases that have been hard to understand. We've worked on range-of-motion exercises in-between doctor's visits. He's still on smoothie diet via PEG, but hopefully we'll evaluate his swallowing tomorrow and see about starting eating. There's still a significant amount of swelling, though we expect it to start decreasing in the next few days. Vitals are stable, no evidence so far of infection or other complications. The number of incisions involved in the last surgery is astounding; he's been through a lot over the last few days but he's in amazingly good spirits, all considering.

This evening Angel brought a few movie choices and Forrest chose Hercules, the animated Disney movie. We're bedside watching the movie right now with him. A few minutes ago the "I can go the distance" song came on, which Forrest has sung many times with Tom and in front of audiences, and Forrest mouthed the words along with us, too quiet to hear but nevertheless there. Tami just walked in the door and will be staying with him tonight. Tomorrow more visitors are arriving and we'll work some lacrosse into the physical therapy mix! Thanks for all the messages, he smiles when we read them aloud.

All the best,
Austin and Team 44

A Message from Toliver

Hi friends, this is Toliver.   My special person, Forrest, just got out of ICU!  We moved to a new room in Intermediate Care (IMC) and he is resting right now.  The doctors seem pleased with Forrest's progress but have told us that he has to stay pretty still, so I haven't gotten to play with him yet.  I over heard Mum and Tami say that I look sad and worried, and I am!  It is hard to see my person in bed with all the tubes and things I don't understand.  So I do my best to cheer him up by looking adorable and making all the nurses and doctors smile when they come in our room. This afternoon I very faintly heard Forrest whisper my name, Toliver, so I think I must be doing a pretty good job.

I do want to share something with you.  Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), the organization that brought Forrest to me, and me to him, needs signatures on a really important pledge!  This pledge is to try to keep people from making their personal pet dogs fake service dogs.  Here is a quote from the CEO of CCI about this issue: 

"This pledge will help shine a light on all the people who outfit their untrained family pets to look like service dogs so they can enter places they don't belong. It will also highlight the discrimination that people with disabilities are facing with the real service dogs they depend on every day."

We need you to help CCI get 50,000 pledges by midnight on Sunday.  This is really important to me so that I and my other service dog friends can keep doing what we love, taking care of our special people!  Here is the link to the pledge:  CCI PLEDGE

Thank you all for helping me take care of Forrest and for lending your voice to help CCI continue their amazing work.
Love, Toliver

The Morning After

After ICU, Neurosurgery, and Plastics rounds, we have time now for a brief update, especially to thank all of Forrest's followers for your support, prayers, messages, and blog comments of love and encouragement.  

Considering Forrest was in the OR yesterday for almost 15 hours and underwent 12 hours of surgery, he is doing remarkably well. The surgeons are quite pleased with the outcome.  This morning one of the surgical fellows who assisted Dr. Kumar described the procedure as an "elegant" piece of reconstructive surgery! 

It's difficult to get any rest in ICU, but Forrest made it through the night under the watchful eye of Johns Hopkins' finest nurses and his own personal guardian angel, Nurse Dawn.  His breathing tube came out at 4 AM and his stats are all looking good.  The vessels supplying circulation to the full flap graft are being monitored hourly with Doppler and the perfusion at the critical 12 hour milestone is good.  There's quite a bit of the swelling as would be expected, but Forrest is able to open his eyes partially and acknowledge us. 

He has given his doctors a semblance of his characteristic thumbs up.  We are back to using one finger for yes and two fingers for no for now,  which is fine.  We doubt that he has anything positive to say just yet, but we are all eagerly awaiting  his first words! 

Toliver is clearly telling us how thrilled he is to see Forrest, exuberantly wagging his whole rear end while he gently places his head on Forrest's hospital bed and looks up at him with adoring eyes.  

For now the main objective is for Forrest to rest, give the flap time to settle into it's new home, and  the swelling to subside. 

We will remain at his bedside watching the monitors and reading him your comments and messages.  Many thanks for your love, faith, and support.

Mum