HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!It has been such a pleasure to come back to Florida and visit with my father after not seeing him for over two weeks. The last time I saw him he was still in ICU, which is drastically different than how he is now. When I first arrived to the hospital and went to his room in the rehabilitation wing and saw him smile at me with that funny, little boy grin, I was so elated and thought "this is the best present one could ask for this holiday season". The past three days have provided me with such hope and reassurance that my father will do well in his recovery and be with us for some time to come. He even said "this Christmas is kind of a wash, but I am still alive". And we could not have made it this far without all the love and support of our friends and family, so thank you for providing us with strength, positive energy and healing prayers.

Today my dad was more alert, despite the three hours of therapy he had this morning. He had 5 women visitig his today, which may have something to do with how awake he was...my dad rarely misses an opportunity to be the charmer that he is!
He was so happy to see his family, as well as my Aunt Jinny and cousin Alyson who is visiting us for a few nights. Carrie and I bought him a new fancy electric razor because the other day when we arrived, he was sitting in his wheelchair at the sink trying to shave himself!! The razor he was using was kind of outdated, so we decided to splurge and get him the new pivot head Norelco and what a good idea that was. He was able to use it today and felt much better after getting off the scratchy hair that he has been complaining about. He also told us a funny story about three nurses trying to get his pants on him this morning. He said what a job that was and that it was a funny sight! So overall he has made some major improvements since I saw him last and I could not be happier right now. He is definintely on the road to recovery and making strides every day.

It has been a strange and interesting holiday season not having my dad at home to decorate the tree with, or play bad holiday music and disagree about the volume, or to have my dad spray that awful pine tree in a can smell so that the fake tree somehow appears real, or to open our presents with the funny name tags that my mom gets a kick out of writing and laughs at herself about. But in actuality it has been the best holiday ever because my wish did come true...my dad is back.
Love, Tracy