Another surgery down

Today was a pretty good day for Rob. This morning before surgery, Barb and Otto were in with Rob and they told me that Rob opened his eyes for a few seconds for them a couple of times. When I was in the room he barely opened them and then closed them again. Then the neuro dr came in and evaluated him. He did a few tests and was really optimistic about the results. Rob still isn't opening his eyes to commands but when the dr opened them for him and turned his head from side to side, his eyes would move back to the center. They weren't fixed in one position which is really good. He also shined a light in his eyes and his pupils reacted appropriately. At one point, it looked like his eyes followed the light off to the side but when he tried it on the other side, he didn't do it. So it's hard to say if that was just a fluke or if he did it purposefully. Also when he touched his corneas with the tip of a q-tip, he blinked his eyes which shows he has a corneal reflex. The dr did tell me he has another test he could do to evaluate more of the brainstem activity but it could cause some pain on Rob. He would put ice cold water down his ears and he should have a reflex to it. However, the dr said it is an optional test and he feels he would pass it so it was completely up to me if I wanted him to do this test. I opted not to. I don't want to cause anymore pain on Rob and he's reacting well to the other tests. While Rob was at surgery, mom, Barb, a friend of Barb's (Diana) and I were invited to the Fisher House at Andrews AirForce Base for a tea. Rob and I stayed there a couple times last year when I was having procedures done at Walter Reed. We got to know the ladies that work there really well and have kept in touch with them. The niece of the Fishers was there so they invited us to meet them. We had a nice time seeing the ladies again and meeting some other nice people. It was good to get away and get our minds off of things for awhile. When we got back, we got a call that Rob was out of surgery. The surgery went extremely well. They washed his wounds but I noticed they did not place the new feeding tube. I didn't get a chance to ask the dr about this but I'm guessing it's because the tube they are going to use has not arrived yet. He received 2 units of blood in surgery only because he usually loses 1 unit with the washouts. However, when they got his blood count back after surgery, his blood levels were just the same as they were before he left so that was great news. His vital signs also look really good. The nurse had shaved him so he looked extremely handsome!!! :) Now we just have to get someone to give him a haircut! His swelling has really gone down and his leg wounds look really good. Tonight when I was sitting with him, he opened his eyes several times. He only opened them about halfway but he kept them open for approximately 15-20 seconds. He's not on any sedation medicine right now so I'm hoping this will give him the opportunity to start waking up more. Overall I feel today went really well. So many days I wake up saying "This is going to be a GREAT day!" and then I leave the hospital at night with a heavy heart. His progress is so slow that you don't realize how much he's gotten better until a couple of days later. Now more than ever I'm realizing that this is going to be a really long road. But the thing that I keep saying to myself over and over is "the best things come to those who wait." God knows when Rob's body will be ready for him to wake up. I'm excited because I'm having the girls come down for Thanksgiving. I'm hoping Rob will be in a place in his healing where he will be able to see them.