Dad continues to slowly improve day by day.  He is still really weak and has much healing left to do, but we marvel at how much progress he has made!

The one major development since the last update revolves around Dad's throat.  Dad had been having so much trouble with eating and swallowing, and his voice had also been very hoarse.  These issues were a result of the right side of his throat and vocal cords being paralyzed.  The ENT in charge of Dad performed a procedure earlier this week where he shot some Gelfoam (similar to Botox) into the damaged vocal cords,  to fill up some of the empty space in there.  This has helped improve Dad's voice and has also made it a bit easier for him to eat.  I am not entirely certain how it works, but it allows him to be able to more easily swallow without gagging.  This is not a permanent fix and will only last a couple of months, but the hope is that he will regain some of the function in that area by then.    In the meantime, his appetite has already improved a bit.  He still is not eating much, but he is doing much better than he was.

Dad has continued to receive therapy at home several times a week.  This upcoming week will be his last for home therapy, and then they will evaluate whether he should continue on with outpatient therapy at the TOSH clinic. 

Dad has been doing great cognitively and has been slowly getting back into some of the activities of his life before the accident.  He is physically not up to much yet, but does enjoy getting out of the house for a ride or taking a walk around his yard.   As a family, we realize how fortunate Dad was that he was not injured even more severely (such as being paralyzed), and what a miracle it is that he survived and is doing as well as he is.  We are so blessed to still have him with us  for (hopefully) many more years.