More Good News!

Joe continues to recover miraculously. His stamina, will and good physical health are pushing him to full recovery. His spirits are good. He appreciates all the well wishers and bloggers who are following his progress. Your prayers and good thoughts are making a huge difference! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Cindi is helping Joe do exercises right now. He is really showing off! He is very energetic and disciplined about executing hand, arm, and leg maneuvers. He is able to lift his legs several inches off the bed, bend his knee, ankle rolls excellent! Cindi is the Doctor on Duty and on call 24/7. As she just said, "Joe is going to be in better shape than we are" (doing his exercises). She is very skilled at working with the doctors in getting their attention to new issues that arise. Joe has asked his primary ortho doc for a doctor's white coat with Dr. Ferraro written on it for Cindi. Cinid is continuing to develop her natural talent for intuitive medical diagnosis and is getting the right doctor's attention to the problem. Joe looks great and has great energy and spirit. Miracles are happening every day! Continue to send those prayers and positive thoughts Joe's way, it means everything to him and his family. Thank you is inadequate for the tremendous gratitude the Ferraro-King family feel for your love and support. Signing off, Bev King, Joe's sister-in-law At Albany Medical Center

A wound vac day

Well, the wound vac girls were in again today to take them down and looked things over. Ortho and plastics both came to take a look. For the most part, they are pleased with the way things look. There is that one spot on the lower left leg that is suspect, though. It has been collecting fluid for some time and not really draining they way they would like it to be. They have all said that they will just be keeping a close eye on it for any change. It doesn't look much different than it did 2 days ago, which just means that is not any worse off than it was. However, everybody would be happier if it started draining or redistributing itself a little better.
Today, we are going to try some pureed potato soup and see how that goes down and maybe some apple sauce. My dad is thrilled because his brother Al has made him some homemade broth. He says "it tastes a hell of a lot better than this hospital crap". He has already made me promise to go out to the store and pick up some coffee ice cream (it's his favorite). At the rate we're going I feel like I should get a few gallons just to get us thru the next few days!
Thanks for everything, everybody!
Love, Stacy

Yankees(Wild card) vs. Indians

Lil' Joe,
The Yanks did what they had to do in order to reach the Playoffs. Their play remained above average for the last several weeks of the regular season. I am looking forward to watching the World Series with you. It will be the Yankees versus the Cubs.
On another note, I continue to be amazed at your ability to win this battle with adversity. If all the people who are following your journey could see what we see first hand, they would be shocked. It has not been ordinary at all. The way and rate you are going through this is remarkable. Our descriptions cannot do these circumstances justice. I know you will keep it up, therfore I will not even say it.
Thank you all. You have devoted so much to this family from top to bottom. As our family heart has joined to help our father/husband/brother/uncle/cousin/nephew we thank you from ONE HEART Robb

Another really good day...with lots of ice cream

Hi everyone,
Today was another really good day for my dad. One of the doctors came thru today who hasn't seen him since the SICU and told my dad he looked like a rose compared to the last time he saw him. He really did look good and had some pretty good energy. He sat up in his bed a lot, we played cards, he read some of the paper, and ate quite a bit...well sucked a lot of liquid thru a straw but you know what I mean.
He's moved on to ice cream, thinned out pudding, ice cream, still on the broth, and more ice cream. The ice cream was mostly in the shake form or melted down but this afternoon he tried these little miniscule bites right off the spoon and between his "mmmmm"'s and "ohhhhhh"'s he declared "Stac, this tastes so much better like this than when it's melted or in a shake!" He was so happy he had ice cream with every meal and then for an afternoon snack. Yesterday when he found out he will need to drink this nasty stuff called Nepro and Boost even after he gets out of the hospital he said to me, "You mean your mother is gonna make me drink this stuff when I'm at home?" I said, "Yeah, because it is really good for you. It has all of these calories and nutrients to help you heal." He looked pretty bummed out until he had this great idea. "OK", he says, "Just have her dump one in the blender with some ice cream and make me a shake out of it." The man is ecstatic he can be eating as much ice cream as he wants and nobody can say anything about it.
I think it's been a few days since I have thanked everyone for the prayers and well wishes. I hope that you all realize how much my family appreciates the power and strength it has brought to my dad, Popo, and for this we are eternally grateful. He is making amazing progress and blows me away with each step of this incredible journey. I always new that he was strong but this recovery is beyond anything I could have ever comprehended until I had to witness it with my own eyes. Dad, I love you! Keep up the GREAT work.
-Stacy

October 1st-Rabbit Day

I actually saw a rabbit tonight when I arrived at the Fisher House for a quick bite to eat...I will take that as a sign of good luck for the week to come! My dad looked great when I saw him today after being gone for a few days. A couple of the nurses were looking at the pictures of our family we have hanging in his room and commented on how different he looks after losing so much weight. I was just thinking that he is starting to look like himself again. He has definitely put a few pounds of that weight he lost back on again. His face is filling out a little bit, but that is an improvement from last week. Best thing of all today his spirits were really good! They have been a lot in the last few weeks but it is always great to see him fighting the battle with as little pain and nausea as possible. Side note-when I asked if he wanted anything for the nausea he said "no, I'd rather wait until we are done with my exercises 'cause you are just going to make me sick as it is!" As you can see his humor is still in tact.
Out for now-Stacy

A breath of fresh air!

Just quick note let you all know that after 39 days of being inside Albany Medical Center my dad got outside for about 5 minutes. It was a lot of moving and lifting and was uncomfortable and it makes my dad very nauseous but they got him into a chair. Then they got his wound vacs and tubes all loaded up and off we went. We got downstairs, went outside, took a few breaths of fresh air and now we are back upstairs in E401c. It was a big moment but a lot for my dad. Signing off for now, Dana

Good morning from Albany Medical Center. My dad got the magic sleeping potion last night and finally got a good nights sleep. He really needed it. He was up for awhile this morning and he is back asleep. He has had a lot on his mind and comfortable, peaceful sleep is like a gift, we are so happy. It is the little things these days. We don't have too much else to report except that one of my dad's roommates was a bit of a surprise to him. Yesterday he watched a "neighbor" shuffle by his bed to go to the bathroom. He didn't even flinch until he saw the two armed guards following behind him. My dad's eyes got wide and he said "Is that guy in jail?" Little did my dad know that was the second roommate he had that was from the correctional facility. He just laughed and we realized that everybody gets sick and hurt and that everybody needs care. I was not going to put this on the blog, however, my dad turned to me and said "Did you put that on the blog?" As you can see, we never have a dull moment here. As usual, thank you all for keeping up the fight with my dad. This is just the first few miles of the marathon, we have a long way to go. Dana