Checking in...

Hi all. First I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for Rick and his family. As of yesterday evening, his vitals had stabilized quite a bit, heart and BP much stronger, although he is still comatose. They took him out of sedation for a few hours to check automatic response - he does respond to pain, touch, so that's good, but they still have no idea how much, if any, real brain function he'll wind up with if he survives. They said chances of him being "normal" were pretty much miracle-grade, although they also said the fact that he survived his trip to the hospital, let alone this long, was a miracle, so you never know. They've asked the family to allow them to put in a trach and feeding tube in order to start doing some work on the bones in his face. They're obviously trepedatious, he has a living will and doesn't want to be prolonged in a vegetative state, but how do you know whether it's going to be temporary or permanent? On a personal front, things here are...ok... Counting down the days to my PS. Very busy at work and at home getting ready for the holidays. I'm still losting weight, have been for a couple of weeks now. I'm now down to 146. I have to be honest, I'm now a full 4 pounds under my surgeon's lowest goal and I should be concerned but I'm not. I'm struggling, mentally, with the high you get from seeing the scale go down. I know you all know what I mean. It's making it difficult for me, mentally, to try to maintain... I think I'm going to need to talk to someone about that... Otherwise, I'm hanging in there. Think of you all a lot and hope you're all doing well.

Becky - God is in the miracle business so keep praying and believing!!! Remember that you'll lose weight with ps too. I don't know how much they're planning on taking off but you can expect to lose a few extra pounds just in the recovery process. So, I see 140 in your near future. Becareful - although I don't know where underweight is for you, it's easy to find yourself there. It's sooooo weird to have these thoughts isn't it??? Who'da thought 2 years ago that you'd ever deal with being content with being at goal???? I sure never thought I'd get to goal!!!! It does do something in the mental department - I know. Hugs, laurie

Hey, hon! Thoughts are still with you, your family, your friend's family especially his daughter. I do hope that miracle comes. How many days til your plastics? Hows the anti-puffing ban going or shouldn't I ask? No smokes at lunch tomorrow, 'kay? LOL! Thinkin' of ya! K