Sunday

Today was another good day!  There was not the huge jump in improvement that there was yesterday, but just knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel was more than enough for today to be awesome!  And that wasn't even all that was good about today.

Mark started off the morning getting to snuggle with Emily and Jason.  Emily would not let me leave the house this morning without taking her.  She was sobbing all over the house because she couldn't find her shoes.  I tried to talk her into coming later, but she would have none of it.  I finally decided to bring her and asked Jason and Shelly if either of them wanted to come too.  Jason jumped on the idea.  Shelly opted to be the one to stay home and tell the others where we had gone (I'm also pretty sure she wasn't excited about getting dressed).  Becca and Bryan came by later to pick up the kids (and the van with the carseats - it's been a car juggling act at times).  Katie came by later to let Shelly and Annie see their Dad.  They were still around for the next part of the morning.

Next on the agenda was physical therapy - which Mark rocked!  He did all the bed stuff with his arms and legs.  Shelly got to help be his 'goal' to hit.  She would hold her hand out and Mark had to give her 5, or hold her thumb down in thumb wars.  She loved being involved!  Then he went for a walk.  He went to the end of the hallway.  On his way down my mom heard him coming and brought Annie over from the waiting room to say hi.  Annie got up on the chairs at the end of the hall so Mark could give her a hug.  Once he got to her, he let go of the walker and picked her up!  I'm sure they have both missed that.

Not long after physical therapy was done there was a gathering in his room.  He and his family have been close with a man who was the Stake President while Mark's dad was the Bishop.  He is now in a Temple Presidency nearby.  Mark had asked for a blessing from him, and his dad set it up.  After all who were there were gathered, Mark was given an amazing blessing.  It was awesome, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

After some contemplation time, in came Dr R. Mark got up and used his walker to come out to the nurses station and see the newest MRI results.  They got 95% of it and what is left is no bigger than his thumb, and only about 5mm thick at that.  Considering it used to be the size of a fist - in 3D- the size of a super thin thumb is great news!  The doctor was almost giddy with the results.  Mark's recovery is surpassing the vast majority of the patients that he does this kind of surgery with (to be a little bit fair, he's young and healthy while not all of his patients are).  The doctor was so pleased, saying 'we came pretty close to crippling him, but we didn't and this weakness, this will come back.'  All with a rather good sized smile on his face. (I'm pretty sure that by 'come back' he meant that the strength will return, and not the weakness, but we all knew what he meant even if technically he said it a bit backwards.)  I have decided that I LOVE when doctors are excited by the results of their efforts.  It almost never means bad things for the patients.

Physical therapy for the afternoon went well too.  We had seen a few visitors (Cindy Taylor from our old ward - love her, and Megan & Adalia - super close friend and her daughter) and were just finishing up with them when the therapist came in.  They did all the arm/leg stuff in bed and then took a walk (this is becoming a habit - but a good one! :) )  About half way down the hall they set the walker aside and he walked on his own the rest of the way down the hall.  I walked backwards as a target that kept moving, and when he caught me he got to give me a hug (and kiss - the physical therapist prescribed lots of those - apparently they are good for developing facial muscles.  Neither Mark nor I complained too much about that one :) ).  Mark did start to get a bit tired towards the end of the walk and started to more noticeably limp on his left leg, but he made it back to his room without using the walker again.  Is it wrong to be proud of him with those kind of accomplishments?  I hope not, because I sure was!  Well, I was beyond thrilled at the very least.  Also, rather excited.

I'm not going to lie.  There have been times in the last few days where the future looked so dim and dark that it was almost hard to breathe, it was so suffocating.  I did my best to just hold his hand and walk around in the dark with him until we found a way out.  These new changes and improvements have been an answer to prayers (not just mine - not at all just mine - but those of everyone around us and even everyone far away from us who have been praying as well - I'm sure that those have been the difference in all of this - Thank You!).  I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I know that the end is still rather far away, and that it will take a lot of work and determination to get there, and there will be bumps in the road in between here and there, but I can see light!  For now, that is enough.  That is so much more than enough!

After physical therapy Mark's mom, my mom and I were all in Mark's room, chatting quietly while he rested.  We were talking about the awesome Cinco De Mayo dinner Becca was planning on making for us.  Mark, out of nowhere, during the first slight lull in the conversation jumps in with 'Did Karen really ask if we wanted regular rolls or cinnamon rolls?  What kind of answer was she expecting?'  Karen is Bryan's mom, and she wanted to help in some way, so she volunteered to make rolls to bring over and gave Bryan a choice between regular and cinnamon.  Cinnamon was the obvious choice.  This had not been talked about for hours, and was only related to the conversation because they both involved food coming that evening for us to eat.  Mark's comments were awesome and hilarious!  And I thought it was a good sign of his short term memory getting better (I haven't really noticed it being off, to tell the truth, but the speech therapist said it was, so I'll believe her since she's the one testing for it, and I'm just along for the ride) and his associations are getting stronger & quicker - and my favorite part - his sense of humor is returning as he is feeling better. :)

The rest of the evening was spent with us trying to get Mark to rest.  The physical therapist recommended that we try to limit visitors for the night because he was becoming mentally fatigued, and mental fatigue would slow down, and could even undo, some physical progress.  We're pretty sure most of his fatigue came from being woken up every hour last night, but if they think that limiting visitors will help, then we'll give that a try for the evening.  Sort of...

Becca, Bryan and the rest of the family showed up with an awesome dinner!  Mark wanted to join the party, but there was no way everyone would fit in his room.  We got permission for him to come out and join us in the waiting room.  They brought us a wheel chair, but Mark opted to walk out with his walker.  On his way out, the kids came and found him and run up to say hi.  Annie was the last to see him.  She was in Becca's arms and Becca set her down and Annie ran at full not-yet-two-year-old speed down the hall yelling 'Daddy, Daddy!'  It was pretty adorable.  I was actually a bit worried that she would try to run into him (something she used to always do), so I was grateful when she stopped just sort of actually knocking him over.  Mark had fun getting to sit and talk with (well, really mostly listen to) people, in a normal chair and not in a hospital bed.  On the way out William had requested a hat of some kind to put on Mark's head because we had some in our party who did not do well at the sight of blood (or staples, for that matter).  The nurse made one out of some sort of stretchy fabric and red coban tape (athletic tape that sticks to itself - or the kind they put on your arm when you donate blood - at least I think that's what it's called...).  It was pretty awesome looking (or funny looking - one of those...).  Mark was a trooper and wore it anyway.

By the end of dinner Mark was tired and worn out.  I was glad we had brought the wheel chair.  He asked for a ride back to his room, hopped in bed and promptly fell asleep.  Earlier in the day he had requested that I stay the night with him.  He claims he doesn't rest as well when I'm not here.  Since we've shared a room pretty much every night for the last 8 1/2 years, I can guess he's become accustomed to having me nearby.  So, I have done my best to keep the nurses at bay while he sleeps.  They have mostly been pretty good about letting him rest.  He fell asleep around 7 and so far there has been only two that I haven't been able to prevent, but for the first one she was careful to try to let him rest through it.  The second was a bit more intense with a neuro check and vitals, but they said they could let him sleep until 3 when they needed to do the next check.  Since it's 11:30, I'm going to consider this a win for sleeping tonight.  That's about as good as it gets in a hospital - and much better than he got last night!  Yea for making a mini-fuss about letting him sleep!  (I was actually super nice about it, just commented (whispered actually) that he was tired and could use some rest - they took the hint well).