Friday, March 14th – 1:00PM

His color looks better than any previous visit. Previously, he was either pale or very, very red. As my mom and I spoke to him, trying to just let him know that we were there and that he was going to be OK, my mom picked up his hand and said, “I love you.” My dad squeezed her hand tightly. At that moment, I knew what joy was – it was on my mom’s face, it was in the air and it was in my heart. Once we knew he was so aware, we were able to ask him “yes and no” questions and learn that his butt was uncomfortable and he needed to be shifted in bed and was otherwise comfortable. Then, he made his hand in a shape to hold a pen and moved his right hand at the wrist – he wanted to write something. My mom quickly got him a pen and paper. He scribbled, “I WANT A CUP WITH COKE + ICE + A STRAW.” As we all rejoiced in his awareness, faculty and the irony of what he wanted, he made the motion again that he wanted to write something. My mom put the paper under his hand and he wrote, “HURRY!” We all laughed so hard. It was a wonderful moment. We went and asked the nurse if he could have some Coke and she said that he couldn’t but that they could sponge his mouth to moisten it. He asked for the pen, just after they sponged his mouth, and wrote, “WHERE’S THE COKE?” So, today has taken a much more pleasant turn. We still have some apprehension, as they’ve run some unexpected tests – chest x-ray and an unscheduled CT scan (they’d told us that it’d be 4-5 days before they did another CT scan). So, we’re not sure if they’re looking for unexpected good or unexpected bad. We should hear from the doctor this evening.