Some pretty exciting accomplishments for my dad! 

Since passing his swallow test a week ago thursday, he has been continually increasing his food intake! He’s now finishing 2 portions of pureed food per meal! If he can continue doing that, they will look at changing his diet to some more “real” food. Yesterday he had pureed banana bread with raspberry drizzle, pureed macaroni and cheese and turkey vegetable noodle soup-puree. 

Even thought my dad is now swallowing, he’s not swallowing his pills yet. They’re still crushing them up, and then pushing them through his PEG tube. Yesterday when the nurse came in with his medications, the pill wasn’t crushed. She wanted to see if my dad would be up for trying to swallow the pill. He was able to do it with a spoonful of apple sauce! Another exciting milestone for my dad. 

My dad is being fit for his power wheel chair as well as a manual chair. On friday he got to try out one of the chairs that he’s considering. This is a huge accomplishment, because he was really worried that he wouldn’t have the hand movement to drive the chair. He did a great job! For the next couple weeks he’ll have the opportunity to continue to practice with the power chair. 

Today my dad is going to be able to meet the nurse that came to his aid on the mountain during his accident. She was hiking with her friends when she saw my dad hit the mountain. She called 911 and was able to sit with my dad for 2 hours while the rescue helicopter came. He’s really looking forward to actually meeting her face to face, as he was face down the whole time. We are all very thankful for what she was able to do for my dad. Thanks Ginger!