John just got his headphones in the mail and is relaxing before surgery. The surgery to clean out his wounds will be around 3pm. We are now at Legacy Emanuel ( Oregon Burn Center) and his next surgery will be sometime next week. We do not have an official date yet. They will wait to get  wound tissue cultures back and see how the wound looks today.

And Charlie is 13 months old today!

John was off of the ventilator for 1hr 10 minutes earlier. He did well off of it and had good oxygen levels. Then he was off again for 30 minutes during a swallow study…..WHICH HE PASSED!!! He is now allowed to drink whatever he wants, he can have smoothies, milkshakes, mashed potatoes, yogurts, pudding, and other soft foods like spaghetti and meat sauce!

His temperature has finally started coming down yesterday and today. They are going to keep him on the same antibiotics as before which are more wide range just to make sure they get rid of all infection in the bed sore.

John had PT this morning. Wound Care changed his wound vac and took pictures to document the healing progress. It looks a little better each time they have checked it.

Speech therapy came by to do a consult. Tomorrow, John will have a bed side swallow study without x-Rays. She will evaluate him by watching him closely. I will be bringing some of John’s favorite juice, pudding, and some cheesecake for his swallow study! We are hopeful that he will be able to have some food afterwards!

We are super excited to have John’s mom coming back in town tomorrow too! John, Charlie, and I both missed her so much! She takes great care of us all!

John is doing fine. His chest x-Rays are looking better and he has less mucus being suctioned from his lungs. He actually got some rest last night and we are going to spend the day watching football. John’s friend Jim is coming to hang out later on too!

John had a long day of trying to get some rest and let his wound drain. He had an elevated fever throughout the morning but it is now lowered. The doctors are very on top of everything here and he had a great nurse today. John’s Aunt Bobbi just so happened to send John a pair of socks that he specifically wanted, ones that I accidentally packed, so that made John happy! Go Bobbi!

John got a wound vac on his bed sore today to increase circulation and help accelerate the healing process. They also put new air padding under him which makes him feel as if he is laying on a big bubble. He spent the afternoon getting some well needed sleep. The doctors at this hospital are much more attentive to John’s needs.

John’s procedure is complete. They cleaned out John’s bed sore so it can heal. It lasted less than an hour. We are back into a larger room so now we don’t feel as confined. We will spend the remainder of the day resting.

We finally made it to Trinity Neurological Rehabilitation Center in Slidell, Louisiana  around 7pm. As it looks, we will be at this facility at least a month. We do not have a specific timeline. John did not do breathing off of the vent today because there was too to so much going on and moving was exhausting for him. John is now resting in his new room and will probably get a roomate in the near future. We are in a small room and only allowed two visitors at a time. The visiting hours are a little more open,  so we can be there all day with him as long as we are respectful to his room mates . John is happy to have mom and I there with him. If you would like to visit, please contact Dee or I, and we can let you know a good day or time to visit John. We just would like to respect John’s wishes.

We will be getting John a tv, dvd player, and a few things tomorrow. Dee went to the rehab hospital earlier today and got some things for John’s room to make it more like home. We are also hanging up photos of Charlie and family soon for him as well. (If you would like to send John something for his room that is okay now ….email me at matti.breaux@gmail.com to get an address. Please keep in mind not to send anything that needs to be held and nothing big because we are in a very tiny room. However we can hang cards on his little bulletin board. DVDs may also be a good option…maybe something that has recently came out so he can feel up to date with things. THESE ARE JUST IDEAS INCASE ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEND SOMETHING BUT PLEASE DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED.)

I hope this makes everyone feel a little better knowing that we are a step closer to getting home. There is no wifi in John’s room and we will be there all  day to late at night,  so the updates will be delivered later at night and if they are not done one day it will be because we are getting our rest to be there for John Charles. We care very much about letting everyone know what is going on, but John is our #1 priority. Charlie will get to visit her daddy on Monday morning too so that will help cheer John up and motivate him to stay strong during this VERY LONG PROCESS! =)

JOHN BREATHED 1 HOUR AND 3 MINUTES ON HIS OFF OF THE VENTILATOR TODAY! I’m so proud of his progress this week! We had a fairly quiet day and spent the afternoon watch Transformers and eating blueberry dum-dums.

Goodnight.

JOHN BREATHED 50 MINUTES ON HIS OWN THIS AFTERNOON and would have done a full hour but he just got tired. He did 33 minutes this morning too. After not using your chest muscles to breath on your own for so long it’s like starting to work out again for the first time. His chest gets sore after and it’s really hard to work those muscles back up but WE ARE SOOOOO PROUD OF HIM!

Our new friend Jim brought John a WWII Museum shirt today and gun magazines for me to read to him and it really helped cheer him up! Also he got a good laugh from his good friend Mollie’s new video she sent to him! Send a video or email for John to just tell him you’re thinking of him if you have time! He is getting sick of being in the hospital and really enjoys hearing from family and friends!

Also if anyone know any new technologies for hands free use of computers and phones, let us know what you know! We are searching for the best ways for John to be able to use his phone, tablet, and computer! So if you hear anything new let us know! =) We are already looking into the BLUE ANT Q3 and BLUE ANT S4 used together!

emails and videos can be sent to: matti.breaux@gmail.com