Monday August 2nd, 2010 Afternoon

Guess What???

We are still at Shands, but we are not in the ICU.

Manny, Andrea and I left the hospital last night at 9:00pm to head back to camp.

After we left, Alyson took one more walk. She came back from the walk and the doctor came in and said that he would be back to take the tube (brain drain) out of her head.

At 11:00pm he was back and proceeded to pull the tube out of her head, and sewed her up. She handled it very well.

This morning they disconnected the remaining wires, and IV's. She was able to get up and go to the bathroom, without being connected to anything.

The physical therapist came by, and had her get herself dressed, and then had her make her bed.

Then they came by and said that she was being moved to another room. To the penthouse suite. Actually it is only the 11th floor, which is the top floor of the hospital.

She took a farewell walk up and down all the halls of the ICU floor. One patient even looked at her and said she was looking good.

It was the last day for the entire camp staff to be at camp. They had finished up with their last camp, cleaned and packed everything up, and were all ready to head home. We gave them one final update at camp, and thanked them all for all they had done, and what they meant to Alyson. Andrea even read them all a note that Alyson had written. Alyson was really hoping to see them all before they went home.

When Andrea and I arrived at 11:00am, she was sitting up in her chair, all her stuff packed up ready to move, and she had on a sundress, her sunglasses and a bright green hat.

A nurse showed up with a wheelchair, and away we went. Leaving the ICU floor, she wore her Viking hat and wig. Everyone smiled as she went by. The other nurses saw her being wheeled down the hall, and were surprised but happy that she was being moved up to the rehad floor. A couple of nurses even asked that she come back to see them before she left.

She is in a private room. All the rooms in this hospital are private. She knows that she is on her way to making a full recovery now. She is still stiff, and suffers with the lower back pain. She still has her heating pad.

After having been in the ICU for 23 days, when they wanted her out of there, they got her out of there fast. We will see what happens next, and we are waiting to see about a date that they release her. Should be sometime this week.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.