Today is the 15th day we have been in the hospital, ten of those days have been in the ICU.  Every day Jim and I would meet with the Trauma and Intensive Care teams during their rounds.  Every day they would tell us that the trauma Jackie suffered to his brain was severe.  We appreciated the candor from the docs and have been praying with all of you and taking things one day at a time.

All morning we were playing some songs from Jackie’s playlist on his phone. He was showing similar body movements as he had made yesterday.  His eyes remained closed.

I know BU held some prayer vigils yesterday and I know Jackie is on many prayer chains and there are many individual prayers being said even by Monks.  God is listening and helping as a small miracle happened this morning.

Now that the weekend is over and the specialty staffs are working, the Speech Therapy team stopped by.  They were able to see him one time in the ICU and because of Jackie’s visit to the OR on Friday were just now able to see him again.

Lenora came into the room and started working with Jackie.  Jackie squeezed her hand on command and also slightly opened both of his eyes.  She asked me to touch him and talk with him.  I told him that it was time to wake up and I sang a Caorle King song to him that I always used to sing to him on mornings he was grumpy and didn’t want to get out of bed.

“You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart,
Cause people gonna treat you better, you’re gonna find yes you will,
That your beautiful as you feel.”

Jackie started to cry.  I think at that point he knew it was definitely me.  Then Lenora asked him to give a thumbs up. Without hesitation he did!  She asked him to wave to his Mom and he waved a very small wave.

My  parents are here and we summoned Jim to come over right away as he had gone back to the hotel to catch a quick nap. The nurses were waiting to get Jackie in the shower so we couldn’t hold him off much longer.  They put Jackie on a PVC rolling stretcher and started wheeling him into the shower.  Jim got here just in time to say hi.  Jackie’s eyes were closed again but when Jim touched his shoulder and spoke to him he opened his eyes again slightly and smiled and then cried. We all cried.

After the shower Jackie came back to his room and the Physical and Occupational Therapy team were waiting for him.  They did some stimulation tests when he was laying down and then they held him up on the side of the bed.  They tried to get him to hold his head up which he tried to do with some success.  They also asked him to hold up two fingers, he did. Then three fingers, he did. The response was more than any of us expected.

They moved him to a chair and after an hour his heart rate started to rise.  It was time to get him back in bed.

We know there will be ups and downs along this journey.  We are just pausing for a moment to celebrate this most wonderful blessing.

We feel your love and thank you for all of your prayers. Keep them coming. TTL