Change of scene

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), Wiley moved out of the ICU!

His move was to what they call an "observational" room in wing 1E at Memorial. Apparently they put folks there that are well enough to move some but disoriented enough to not necessarily make great choices for themselves (e.g., walking out of the hospital). Nancy, Tim and Wiley all seemed to find the change of surroundings a great improvement. Being there just seems a little bit more like regular hospital time and a little bit less like being surrounded by acute crisis. Wiley is sharing the room with 3 - 4 other patients, and Tim and Nancy are making arrangements to mostly be there with him on a continuous basis for the next few days.

Wiley is now unattached -- without tubing.

Tim reported that yesterday they shared a number of laughs, and that Wiley's humor is very good. Nancy said that Wiley even managed to find some humor in occasional gaps in his brain - mouth operation; when he strung a number of words together that made no sense, after a period of coherence, Nancy asked him if he was speaking gibberish. "Probably!" he answered.

Wiley also stood up about 3 times on Wednesday. He's clearly getting stronger and his coordination is improving steadily. The physical therapy - occupational therapy guys have already started working with him, though his endurance is pretty limited as yet.

He's doing great.