Babalu

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BTW,

Jeff's family has asked that anyone who is thinking of heading over to Spaulding to see him refrain from doing so if they are feeling at all under the weather. They are concerned, not without good reason, that he does not catch anything else. If you think you might be coming down with something or are just getting over something please, for Jeff's sake, postpone your visit untill fully recovered.

Thanks.

PTN
 
Reading the set back sank my heart. We have been through many with my daughter and I'm sure will go through many more. I'm glad I didn't see it until he was already back to Spaulding. I feel for his family and friends going through all of this. I could have never imagined what it must be like until about a month and half ago. It is unbelievably exhausting on his family to be going through this as well. Please think of them as much as you are all thinking of Jeff until he gets out of there.
 
Don't know the guy, but he's a homebrewing comrade, so I'll send up a few prayers for Jeff and his family. May he go on to brew many many more fine batches.
 
Hey all,
I was at Spaulding seeing Jeff today and he's still pretty wiped out. He's coming off a minor infection and that, along with the antibiotics have him pretty sleepy. I'm not thinking about this as a "set-back" as much as a quick "time-out" from the progress he has been making. Everyone seems very sure that as soon as he comes off the anibiotics (tomorrow), he's going to snap back to where he's been recently.

Hey Irreg... I havent said it but I see what Jeff and his family are going through and i am thinking about you, your family and your daughter as well. I hope she makes bigger and bigger strides really soon.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Personally, I have a lot to be thankful for and when I raise a glass later tonight, I'm going to toast to the fact that me, and a long list of other folks, still have Jeff with us and i know 2011 is going to bring our boy back to full strength.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope it is a heathy and prosperous one for all of you.
 
Just finished reading all the posts in this thread. Very heart wrenching story. All thoughts and prayers are for Babs. As well thoughts and prayers to IP's daughter as well.
 
bighoss said:
Just finished reading all the posts in this thread. Very heart wrenching story.
Click to expand...

I was just about to post that 'exact' statement.. Word for word..
I'm gonna scrounge a bit and see if I can shake any change loose for this here cause...

Seriously rough stuff...
:mug:
 
Jeff's back at MGH again. He's been fighting another infection and today his liver and white blood cell counts were up so they transferred him back. He's got gall stones that are causing some issues with his gall bladder and they're trying to decide whether they're going to remove it or just remove/treat the stones.

He had just about gotten back to where he was before he got the first infection, but the new one is really sapping his energy.

I think we need a new round of prayers and positive thoughts here, so please keep Jeff and his family on your mind.

Thanks.
 
the day Babalu walks(soon I hope), I'll buy a premium membership here for me.
The day he posts again, I'll gift one to someone else.
 
Jeff is once again back at Rehab. They now believe one of his meds was causing the liver inflammation and elevated counts. They're adjusting his meds to try and get things back to normal. Apparently the gall stones are not causing any issues.

Hopefully the med changes will get him back on track. Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts. Keep 'em up.
 
Well, Jeff is once again back at Rehab. He went back to the hospital last week for some scheduled tests and he began vomiting while he was there. They readmitted him and checked him out and found that he had another urinary tract infection, along with the other infection he had been fighting. They've been treating him all week and his white blood cell and liver counts are back down to the normal range. So they transferred him back to Rehab this afternoon.

He was actually very alert today and talking to his nurses and parents.

Let's all hope that this little slowdown is finally over and he'll quickly get back to making big some real progress in his rehab.

Frank
 
Well we've finally got some good news to report. I got a text on Thursday from his wife saying that Jeff was having a great day, almost as good a day as he was having just before Christmas. I called her and she told me he had just had a good OT session, catching a ball that they were throwing to him. Reaching out for the ball and having good movement and coordination in both arms. He also had a good speech therapy session. Answering most of the questions correctly and the ones he was unsure on, he quickly gave the correct answer with a a hint or two. They also brought him some stuff to eat. Ground up London broil, which Jeff said was "horrible." They also had some butternut squash, which was "gross." And some mashed potatoes that were "OK." The speech therapist also approved him to start eating soft foods, meaning anything you can cut with a fork. So he can start having some real food now.

After speech therapy his wife took out the laptop and asked him if he wanted to look at some pictures. She gave him the laptop and they started to look through them. Jeff put his finger on the correct mouse button and clicked his way through the pictures. his wife also said he identified most of the people in the pictures.

I don't know how yesterday went, but he had another great day today. My phone rang a couple hours ago and it was was Jeff on the other end. We had a quick conversation told him it looked like Green Bay was in and Jeff agreed and I then said I couldn't believe I'd be rooting for the Steelers later tonight, he replied "yeah, I know." I had a hard time hearing/understand everything he said, but it was good to talk to him.

His brother went in to see him this morning and I guess they had a good visit. Later when his wife arrived to visit she asked how his brother was, he replied "large and in charge," which definitely describes Jeff's brother.

Please continue to keep Jeff in your thoughts and prayers and lets hope this is the start of a long series of positive news.
 
Thanks Frank! I am so stoked to hear the progress! Thank you to all the folks from here that are going in to see him to keep him stimulated outside of his therapy, which must just get monotonous for him, and hopefully sooner than later Jeff can get himself home.
 
A quick Jeff update.

Including the last update, Jeff has had 5 great days in a row. Today was no exception. He ate some of his Mom's pasta fagioli soup and some diced peaches.

The best news yet...with some assistance, Jeff stood up for the first time today!

Keep the positive thoughts, energy and prayers coming!
 
This is awesome news! Im sure he will be up and about on his own once he starts getting the invites to spring and summer Barbques! to hell with shoveling snow! Wait it out brotha!
 
Hey all,
Just another quick update on the big man.... I went over to see him for about 45 minutes yesterday afternoon and I was pretty excited when I left.

He looks great (relatively) and just LOOKED a lot better than he has the last few times I saw him (only about a week or so ago). He was snoozing when I get there but he woke right up and basically didn't shut up for the whole 45 minutes I was there!

He is still kind of mumbling/whispering so I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying but when I was able to slow him down for a second and ask him very direct questions, he was making a lot of sense. I asked him what my name was and he was a little stumped so I told him I would give him the first syllable of my last name... I barely got the first sound out and he instantly said my first and last name... which was a HUGE relief. Reports recently have been that he's doing that a lot... it is as if it is on the tip of his tongue but he can't get it out.

In terms of the whispering and mumbling... and I'm obviously NOT a doctor in any way... but it really does seem like it is a matter of his brain is going a MILLION miles an hour and his mouth just can't keep up. When i've seen him in the past, he'll kinda whisper something for a few seconds and that'll be it. This time... like I was saying... I couldn't get the big man to shut the hell up. NOT a doctor but I THINK that is a really good sign.

One other cool thing was I was trying to think of all sort of things to jog any memories I could with him and I mentioned the time, at this past summer's pig roast at my place, that him and his family pulled their big tow-behind camper right up onto my front lawn and camped there for the night. He put this look of total shock on his face, "WE DID!?!!?". It was cool because it was by-far the most expressive facial expressions I've seen him make since he's been sick.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these damn infections stay away at this point. He seems to be making REAL progress now after a few set backs from the damn infections. He seems to be on a bit of a roll now and hopefully that keeps going.
 

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