Update

Hi everyone - I will be going back to Tampa on Monday and hopefully my great friend will come from Naples to visit as well. Dustin is weaning off the vent very well but he has come to a roadblock that he can't breath without the vent. They assure him he is mostly breathing on his own all the time but for some reason he doesn't think he can. I think it is a lot of fear and trauma from not being able to breath so much in the past.

His dad just visited him and they had a good visit with a little head butting on Dustin not participating with his therapy like he should. He also had a very grouchy and tough day due to extreme pain. I finally found out the name of the bone thing and after researching it,it appears to happen in trauma situation including spinal cord injuries. Since the bones begin to atrophy because of lack of use, the body kind of goes in overdrive and begins producing all of this bone around the joints and causes tremendous pain. they have started him on some kind of medicine that I think you do for a period of time and then stop. I also talked to his nurse today and they have place him on anti-depressants. OK I held them back for 5 months but his moods have gotten more labile. I need to find out what they put him on because the nurse said it is something they give him early in the morning and I did not recognize the name.

He has not progressed with eating, as the nurse said that the speech therapist said he is not cognitively ready and she is not confident with feeding in this situation. HIs memory seems worse and I figure it is from the greatly increased pain meds. I will be talking to all of the disciplines as well as his doctor when I get there. They are so awesome at care and understanding of the total situation. Dustin's dad said that they feel that he does not trust them and has a lot of insecurity with care based on his many negative experiences in the past few months. They have recognized that and are working hard at obtaining his trust.

This kid has been through so much. I am just grateful that he is alive and in great hands. It may take some time but he will make it. Please pray for healing from all post traumatic episodes and his confidence in breathing. He also needs to address a lot of anger that seems to be surfacing which is understandable. I will keep you posted throughout next week.

The chickens are growing big and got to come out in the "big girl" area today. they are getting their feathers and interacting with each other well. We also have wood ducks, a crane and deer who are creating quite a nice bio-atmosphere at our new lake.

Blesssings to all
mary pat