Payton has continued to struggle a bit since his surgery. Anesthesia is really tough on him, and one again he is sleeping most of the time and having trouble with nausea. Lines continue to get taken out of him and monitors off. Now unless he is receiving an antibiotic he is pretty free of lines and wires. He also had he catheter removed while in surgery, that is a surgeon with a really kind heart! Payton still thinks that catheter "pinch" when they inserted it has been the worst part of the ordeal. So now every couple of hours Payton gets up and goes to the bathroom, pretty much on his own.

Great news this morning, Payton has made enough progress that he is scheduled to be able to go home Sunday afternoon. We are so excited and grateful, Payton really wants to get home. We will still be on IV antibiotics for at least 6 weeks and he has a PICC line in his arm for all of the stuff he will need. They are getting him over to oral pain medicine, which lasts longer and will be easier to use at home. He is on Loritab, and off of Morphine. I think that this is upsetting his stomach some and he has had a couple of nice eruptions in the past few hours. Hopefully this will settle down. For Payton not to want to eat is a very rare moment and we hope it passes quickly.

Payton and I were able to take a long walk this morning, he did very well, and the PT took him to the stairs which he did as well. He continues to gain strength and now the tingling sensation is only in his toes of his left foot. The PT is amazed at his progress, it is one of the most amazing recoveries she has seen in several years of working there. After the PT Payton had a shower, it was the first since he started getting sic 10 days ago and he said it felt great. He has so much tape residue on him that it will take a while to get it off, and we were able to carefully wash his hair and get the dried blood and stuff out of his hair. He looked better and felt better after letting the hot water run over his body for almost 30 minutes. Showering is going to be a little complicated the next few weeks as he has to protect the PICC line and his incision.

From yesterdays surgery Payton has swollen quite a bit the past 24 hours, his head has taken on the shape of a light bulb. The swelling is normal and will probably get worse before it starts to come down. This is putting a little pressure on his head and he keeps touching the area where the frontal bone plate was replaced. I think it is a little sore and it must feel a bit strange as he traces along the lines where the plate was previously cut out. I think Payton is tired of all of the questions the hospital staff and Angie and I ask him. We chatted a bit today about patience and feeling positive for so many great blessings rather that frustrated and feeling sorry for yourself. Hopefully he will be able to always be able to recall the positive and feel like each day is truly a gift. As he feels better and can get home I think this will improve. They say with the trauma and the high amount of meds his body has been on it can cause slight depression. We will watch that closely and do all we can to offset it as a family.

Angie is going to stay with Payton tonight, I will go to Church and try and catch up there. The Bishop and Spencer have been so accommodating and supportive during this crisis. It will good to get back into a somewhat normal flow over the next few days as we try to move on. Thanks again to all for the love, support and help the past few days. We look forward to being home closer to family and friends and in more comfortable surrounding.