Saturday - Monday, March 27-29th

Jesse had a visit from his niece Molly on Friday and again on Saturday. On Saturday, Josh & Eileen (Jesse's brother and sister-in-law, Molly's parents) thought Jesse could share in Molly's first egg-coloring experience....

In Josh & Eileen's defense, bringing the nurses chocolate chip cookies and bringing ziti for Jesse were two very good ideas.

Let's return to the Easter eggs. First, there was a mishap pre-visit with the boiling -- namely, some eggs cracked a wee tiny bit. Then we arrive at the rehab hospital with dye, water cups, vinegar and cracked eggs. Obtaining supplies took some effort, but the process began with Eileen leading the way. All was going well until the camera came out and the decision was made to line-up the eggs and dyes in front of Jesse and Molly for a photo. As you can guess, Molly was able to reach the red dye, pull.... and splat. Eileen suffered the worst damage (red vinegar dye on her jeans) and housekeeping Dave was good-humored about assisting with the clean-up, but Jesse certainly had a Saturday to remember!

On Sunday Jesse had a few more visitors and continued progress (Jesse continues rehab work through the weekends). Sunday evening Chaplain Dave returned from his midwest trip and was able to sit with Jesse for a while; Dave has been very helpful through Jesse's recovery and it was good to see him back in PA!

Monday night Jesse got moved to the window bed and can now control his own heat and air conditioning -- still in the same room for visiting purposes. His Pastor visited earlier in the day and then seven Juniata students piled onto his bed for a visit -- Jesse's half of the room was certainly a bit crowded! Rich, from Jesse's CMA church in Huntingdon also dropped in later in the evening keeping Jesse very busy for the night.

A few updates:

1. Jesse has progressed well through the walking-through-the-parallel-bars. Jesse's next task will be to use crutch-style walkers (neither Jesse nor I have seen this apparatus, so it is difficult to explain) to extend his pacing beyond the length of the parallel bars.

2. Jesse's nurses are encouraging him to get outside when he has friends at the facility. If the weather is cooperative, coordinate with the nurses to help Jesse outside to a patio. There are blankets if the temperature drops, but there are no provisions for wet weather.

3. Jesse has his cell phone, but please limit your calls and texts -- the staff does not want copious calls and texts to interfere with Jesse's recovery or distract him from sleep, so perhaps call or text during visiting hours. If Jesse has a room full of people he will attempt to respond when visiting hours conclude at 8pm, but be aware that Jesse cannot return 20-40 phone calls per night. Be patient!

4. Not every stitch was removed from Jesse's head. Stitches were only removed from his face. If you see Jesse start to scratch his head, near his hairline, yell at him. Bad things happen when you scratch at the stitches in your head.

5. Visitors - as I said before, Jesse is in the same room but has moved to the window bed. Please be patient if Jesse is in OT or PT when you arrive and be respectful of the nurses and Jesse's roommate.

Enjoy Holy Week, get yourself to church, and check back often for further updates!