I was in to see Chris yesterday.  Mom and I drove in around noon, and got in to see him just around 1pm.

He was awake, and moving his right arm around, but was frustrated.  The nurse had given him a piece of hose to play with, as he seemed to be flailing his right arm quite a bit.  His heart rate was up a bit, but I think that given his slightly agitated state that was to be expected.  He seemed to be trying to communicate something to us, but we couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that he was trying to say.  He would hold our hand, and then push you away, and then look for you again.

He motioned about his face, and we told him that he looked normal, and just like himself.  There were no serious issues with his face.  He seemed to accept that for the time, but seemed to be frustrated with the tubes attached to him. 

It seemed like he wanted to have the wrist restraint taken off, and so the nurse said that was okay as long as we were right there with him.  It’s a very loose restraint, and is just to ensure that he doesn’t try to rip out  his trach or any of the other lines into his body.  He had it off for a while, and then started to reach for his trach and other things.  He got frustrated when we told he he couldn’t take them out, and to not try to do so, and motioned like he wanted the wrist restraint back on, so we hooked him up again.  He still has quite a bit of movement even with it on, and it’s not causing him any trauma.

We kept giving him the piece of rubber hose to play with, but he kept hucking it across the room.  He started whipping the hose around, and a nurse was scared that he might accidentally hurt himself or us, and gave him a small towel wrapped up and taped.  My first thought was that he was going to huck that thing like a foot ball, and sure enough after about 1 minute, he threw it across the room.  Mom picked it up and gave it back to him, and he did it a couple more times.  Finally, he hucked it right into the next room, and mom just left it there.  It was almost like he was playing with her.  It was cute.

We did ask him several times when he was trying to communicate if he was in pain, and not once did he ever indicate a yes.  Even when the nurses came in to make him a pair of shorts and were lifting his left leg and arm around, he didnt even wince once.  He started to have a harder time breathing, and just had some flem stuck in his pipes, so the respiratory therapist cleaned his tubes out, and although he was uncomfortable with the suctioning of his tubes, he didn’t wince or seem to feel any pain. 

He had had a rough night on Sunday night, and didn’t sleep very well.  They had given him quite a bit of drugs, and wondered if he might be seeing or imagining things on Monday during the day.  The build up of drugs in your body can cause not very nice reactions.  We can just pray that his system will flush out, and that he will be at rest and peace and have a sound mind.

He was trying to communicate with us, and alternated between actual communication (head nods and shakes and pointing) and just being frustrated that we were so stupid that we couldn’t figure out what it was that he wanted.

Mom had printed off Daniel Galland’s message to Chris, and when we first showed up, he didn’t want to hear it, but about half an hour into our visit I asked him again, and he wanted to hear what Dan had to say.  I read him the letter, and he seemed to calm down and be listening.  So, depending on how he is doing, and what he wants….send in your letters, or notes, and we can read them to him.

Even though only family can actually go in and be with him, you can still send a message, and we’ll take it in to read to him.

They still have the neck brace on, although that makes no sense to me ’cause he didn’t have one on for 2 weeks up in Kamloops, and yesterday he was moving his neck around so much that I don’t really see the point in the brace being on.  I guess they are still waiting for some special x-ray or something.  Who knows!

I’m sure I’m forgetting some fabulous and really exciting piece of news, but oh well….

I can’t get in to Vancouver today, but as soon as I hear an update from someone who has been in, I’ll keep ya posted.

Keep praying. 

James 5:16 (New Living Translation)