A breath of fresh air - the midday Sunday report

In the last couple of hours, Wiley shed his breathing tube and feeding tube!

He's now breathing on his own, and sleeping deeply for the moment. His mouth is free of tubing, though he still has a tube that goes through his nose down to his stomach and the monitor in his brain, which exits through the top of his head, as well as an IV. It wasn't an easy process for him, or for his parents to witness, but when the ventilator was shut off, he did what it took to get breathing again.

He also got to shed his restraints. Later today he is expected to lose the brain monitor. Tomorrow, once they've confirmed that he can swallow, he'll lose the nasal tube as well. And once they can communicate clearly with him and can confirm that his neck feels OK, they'll take of the neck brace, too. He'll be down to the foley catheter and IV.

Tim said that the first thing Wiley did after getting the restraints off was to stretch his arms over his head, arch his back and settle back down into a more comfortable position. When Tim's mom asked Tim if Wiley had said anything, Tim said, No, just sounds of relief as he stretched. But Nancy just told me that when Tim had told Wiley "You're doing a great job, we love you," he was pretty sure Wiley responded with "I love you," too.

More later.