Update #48 on Kevin

Kevin sat up for the second time today. They sat him up in his blue neuro chair around 5:30 PM and got put back in his bed around 9:45 PM or so.


I remember so many times coming out the front door at Mom and Dad’s house and there would be Kevin. He loved tanning outside. He lay on each side until he was baked crisp. I also thought he was going to burn he was out there so long. But he never did. He has some kind of gene that is found in suntan lotions. Maybe we can bottle it.

So, when he got settled into his blue neuro chair, Kevin’s Respiratory Therapist tried something new. She put on a speaker valve for a trial run. Basically, the speaker valve makes it so Kevin can only breathe in through his trach, and he has to breathe out through his mouth and nose. This also makes it so he can makes sounds through his mouth.

He didn’t make any noise for the first thirty minutes, but then there were a few moans or groans. We were told that this was a good first run at trying out the speaker valve. It is a little different than just talking normally, because he still has the trach sitting right next to his vocal cords. Kevin has to kind of get used to it first. Sometimes he would make a groan sound when he would cough. He did try to move his mouth and tongue quite a bit.

It’s been one week since Kevin was taken off breathing machines. He has been breathing Wall-Flow air since last Friday. This is just one of the progresses that we were looking forward to and now we are celebrating the one week anniversary.

Thanks for those who have written emails or comments to us or Kevin. It really means a lot!

Now in honor of Kevin, let's all go out and get some sun tomorrow!
Thank you,
Matt, Angie and family
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http://www.prayforkevin.com/ (to read past updates)
http://prayforkevin.blogspot.com/ (here’s another address to get there)