Friday July 23rd, 2010 PM

Live from the ICU unit at Shands Hospital in Gainesville Florida. 9:00pm

Got in here late this afternoon. I had picked up Griffin who had spent the week with Mannys two sisters and brought him up with me to spend the weekend at camp.

I took Griffin across the street from the hospital, and Alyson was able to stand up in her room, look out the window and see us across the street.

I have noticed the changes in Alyson since I left Tuesday. They are small improvements, but every improvement is a step in the right direction.

Her attitude is better. More talkative. And she is very aware of everything going on around her. She slept soundly for 2 hours after supper, and now she is awake doing an activity book.

She has an arterial line in her arm that is monitoring her blood pressure, as they are still trying to keep that high.

She did not each much today until supper time. Pasta, mushrooms and chicken, with juice and a roll. Then tonight she had some sliced apples.

Last night she was acting really weird and giving some very strange answers to the questions she was being asked. They thought it was a reaction to the muscle relaxants she was on, so they discontinued those. She thought she was in Publix, or working at the McDonalds drive thru. Once off of that medicine, she is back to normal.

This morning she took a walk down the halls, going out on the balcony again, where she saws some little kids playing below at a day care center. This balcony was out by the waiting room, and all the people in the waiting cheered her on.

Then she took another walk down the halls this afternoon. This time going down all three halls of the wing. She did most of it without holding onto the cart that supports all her IV's and monitors. But the physical therapist had a good grip in her.

The brain drain is darker today than when I was last here. The nurse has noticed that depending on which side she sleeps on, the fluid is either darker or lighter. Just as long as the blood drains out of there.

Her eyes are still sensitive to the light, and anytime she goes out she wears her bright green sun glasses.

Tonight right now she is awake, her eyes are open more than they have been since arriving here, and she is doing an activity and carrying on a conversation with us. This has not happened before.

Still severe pain in her neck and back, and that has not changed much this week.

The dark clouds of Tropical Storm Bonnie are off in the distance outside the window, and it is no threat to us here.

Thats all for now. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.