Alright, I've kept everybody on the edge of their seats long enough. Geoff is doing great. Spoke with him yesterday, he is bored because they don't do therapy on the weekends and no one is there with him. He said the computers are slow and he gets frustrated with them. Still on a short leash as he is about 75% of the way to walking unassisted. The trach is capped and his voice is getting much better. He can actually carry on somewhat of a conversation. Mostly he wants to come home. Projected release from inpatient care is July 11, no decision yet if he is staying there for outpatient or coming home. More as I get it.

Atlanta update!!! Geoff arrived just fine and was trying to walk into the facility. They had to strap him to the gurney to wheel him in. Initial indications are he is going to do well there. Today, he spoke most of the day with his trach uncapped. Plan is to cap it either tomorrow or the next day. If all goes well with it capped, they will remove it. They have him on a high calorie diet to put some weight back on him. Before he left, he had lost 14 lbs.

Hello all. Geoffrey is in Atlanta!!!! Of course, he had to leave on a positive note. After text messaging his girlfriend for half an hour, he was sitting in the chair and made a noise through his mouth. We asked if he wanted to try to talk, he said yes. Gloved him up, told him to take a deep breath, cover his trach, and try. He did and his first word......"what". We asked him what time the ambulance was supposed to be there, he said "8:30". The nurse came in and asked him what his name is..."Geoff". Between that and Geoff constantly trying to get out of the room (under his own power on his two feet), we couldn't have had a better send off. I'll be visiting next week from the 1st through the 4th. More as I get it!!!

Evening all. Last post before Geoff's big Atlanta adventure!!! I couldn't have had a better fathers day today. When I went to see Geoff, he had a card for me, with "Happy Fathers Day" hand written by Geoff himself. Geoff had 15 visitors today so he was quite awake. He even wanted to get into his recliner for a while. Still not eating too much, but it's mostly because of the trach and trying to swallow. He tends to cough a lot while trying to swallow and that puts an end to it. They should remove the trach soon after he gets to Shepherd. I intend to continue the blog and keep everyone updated as much as possible, but I probably won't have daily updates. I'm already looking forward to going to Atlanta next week to visit him. With any luck, within the next few weeks, I hope that Geoff will take over updating this blog and keeping everyone updated. Fear not, if he doesn't, I will!!

Evening all. Not much to report today. Evidently Mr Geoffrey decided to try a little walk about last night. Today he was sporting a bed alarm and a sitter. Geoff didn't have much of an appetite, as lunch was still untouched and dinner soon arrived. During our visit today, Geoff slept the entire time only waking as we were leaving. A note on his tray from friends showed we were not the only ones to visit a sleeping Geoff. No worries, supposedly he was up all night last night. TYpical for those of you who know Geoff!!!

Howdy all. Atlanta is a go. Geoff leaves Monday morning at 9 AM by air ambulance from Pensacola. Geoff is in room 245 for anyone interested in visiting before he leaves. On the days events, Geoff ate REAL FOOD for the first time in almost a month. OK, it was hospital food so that's as real as it gets at this point. Geoff had rice, fish, banana, and a dinner roll, washed down with ice tea. Kinda weird is that everything has to have blue dye added to ensure it goes the right way and nothing blue comes out of his trach. Geoff was even able to use the spoon to feed himself. Photo's coming!!! (He is so done with the dad and photo thing, but what's he going to do?). Nurse asked mom to bring in shoes because his feet are getting issues associated with laying in bed for prolonged periods. Threw his socks to him, he put them on for Grandma and Grandpa, needed help with the shoes though. Then Geoff decided since we were dressed we may as well get up for a bit. Geoff sat up, put his legs over the side of the bed, and started to stand up. After we addressed his desired final rest location (the recliner, duh, dad) he put his hands on my shoulders and stood up. Moved the padding to the recliner and after several steps to the recliner, sat down. Looked quite proud of himself. He should be, I was!!!

Good evening all. Geoffrey's writing skills improved immensely since yesterday. Yesterdays writing was barely legible at best, today, he was spelling and writing words, names, and short sentences. Still not 100% sure about the rehab location, Atlanta is possibly going to offer him a scholarship for his time there past 3 weeks. At and are approval of the scholarship, and getting Geoff there. Air ambulance is actually less expensive as insurance will pay most, but we are not sure yet if the Neurosurgeon will allow Geoff to fly. Ground ambulance, along with being a 5 hour drive, is $5400, with insurance covering $400. If all goes as planned, he will go to Atlanta, otherwise we will stick with the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center plan. Not sure what Geoff thinks about this as every time I tried to talk to him about it, he looked away. Kinda thinking he would rather stay here, we'll see though. Will try to upload photos of his writing skills for the slideshow.