End of month 1

John had his surgical consult on Wednesday, and it went really well. He liked the way the surgeon answered his questions (even when he wasn't thrilled with the answer), which was reassuring to me. At this point, he does not need a second surgery: the graft is parallel and looks strong, and his spine seems to be healing nicely. He'll have a follow-up in a month, and we have to keep watching it for a while, but so far, so good. He still has to wear the neck brace for at least another month before they start weaning him off it (the answer he wasn't happy with), but that's a small price to pay to avoid a second spinal surgery.

He can now get himself standing from a seated position, though he needs someone there in case he pitches too far forward. In PT yesterday, he got to try an "obstacle course", with little cones and rubber bumps laid out of the floor for him to step over -- a new challenge, as his PT explained, to keep the muscles guessing and working. He won a few of those challenges and the cones won a few -- and soon I'll have to bring him a new pair of sneakers, at the rate he's working out this pair!

Most importantly, his spirits are great -- my husband is a fighter, and he's fighting to come home to us! So it would be really nice if the football gods could reward his hard work with a fun game tomorrow... GO Irish!