October 7

We got to the hospital at the time set up for the "family meeting" and the doctor wasn't there. BUT the old doctor came in to meet with us, and we were told that he would remain Jeremy's physician. I think that since they are planing to transfer Jeremy to the skilled nursing home so soon, they think that it would be pointless for another doctor to take over for such a short period of time. We asked the doctor, among other things, if we could have another week or two because it would take us that long to resolve some other issues. He is going to try and set the date for transfer to the 20th of October - if the insurance company approves.

Someone asked the difference between rehab and a skilled nursing facility yesterday. And I liked the answer that someone gave:
"As someone who has worked in both a hospital based rehab unit and a skilled nursing facility, the hospital rehab is often just more focused, requiring 3 hours a day of therapy. A skilled nursing facility may designate therapy at a lesser level, or less time a day. It does not mean they quit working with Jeremy. It also depends on the skilled nursing facility. Most of them have wings or units designated to rehabilitation patients, or the ones that are receiving therapy until they get better and go home. These areas, in my experience, can be just as dedicated to therapy and strengthening as the rehab unit at the hospital."
We are praying that this is the case with Jeremy!

We were also asked why he couldn't come home. He still can't turn himself over in bed or any other function to take care of himself at this point. He still requires 24 hours a day nursing and medical care that we are not able to provide at this time. To bring him home is our goal as soon as possible, but we have to pace ourselves. We don't want to take on more than we know how to handle. The doctors have told us that his rehab could take a year.

On a lighter note - when we walked into the room today Papa said, "Jeremy can read." They gave Jeremy a word book with different things on each page. One has numbers, one has months of the year, food, emotions, etc. They would ask Jeremy, "What month is your birthday?" He pointed to February. "What day is your birthday?" He pointed to 6. They continued to ask questions and he would continue to point to the right word. Amazing!!! I knew he was a smart cookie!!

He is also doing much better at shaking his head in the right direction for yes and no although I was a little tired of the no response when I was trying to find something he would like to eat today! He still has the sore throat. I think today he had 3 servings of yogurt and ice cream. They plan to bring in a ear, nose and throat doctor tomorrow (I hope).

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.