Update: Monday, December 19th 8:30pm

MIKE IS OFF OF HIS VENTILATOR AND BREATHING ON HIS OWN!

We are so overjoyed for this progress, and it's a huge step in the direction of moving to the long term acute care hospital. He's still spiking a fever for several days in a row, so the medical team is running tests to figure out if it is due to an unknown infection or his body's inability to regulate its own temperature due to the brain damage.

No eye opening today, but he did look more peaceful and not so much like he was fretting or having a bad dream.

If you left a message on this website, it has made it onto an ornament on his tree. Thank you for sending all the love.

I've found a rhythm of working in the hospital cafeteria and coming up to see him for 15 minute increments during breaks between meetings. It's been nice, because I feel like the short visits don't overwhelm either of us and I can get enough "time" with him throughout the day. A kind friend joins me for lunch in the cafeteria almost every day, and those visits have been welcome reprieves from all of the stress that has been building up. I'm still not tired of the salad bar and haven't had to go grocery shopping in what feels like ages. It's the little things.