Cheesy Analogy

Well I've decided since my little break in Carpinteria, that Dad's progress is much like watching his hops grow. As most of you know, either my mom or myself or both of us sit with Dad 6+ hours a day. If we were to, say, sit in the front yard and watch his hops grow for that long every day, we probably wouldn't notice their growth (for those of you who don't know, Dad planted some hops just before his heart attack...). But after a few days away from the hops, I come back to see that they've gone crazy, taken over the tomato plants, wound their way around the patio chairs and are threatening to climb up the side of the house.

Basically I'm just looking for another way to say that he's doing really well. Sometimes (I'll admit!) I can be negative, get really discouraged; but all it takes is a little time away to see the progress he's made. He's even doing so well that his physical therapist made point to call my mom yesterday to tell her how great he's doing. He's starting to recognize people (he's never happy to see his occupational therapist; probably because he's good at his job!), he stays awake for longer periods of time, and is getting a lot better at controlling his muscle tone (posturing). We're hoping to wean him from the trach soon as well because it seems like he's trying to talk (probably nonsense, but it'd be a start) and has so far tolerated plugging it very well. He even burped yesterday; not sure if that constitutes improvement, but it's different!

So, yes, sometimes it's hard for me to pinpoint the improvement he's making. But he is certainly improving. All forward movement is good, no matter the pace...even if by the time he gets home the entire neighborhood is covered with hop vines.

Side note: Cheryl and Stu, totally saw that you bought Dad a beer at Island Brewery! Let's hope he can go claim it one of these days!