The medical professionals at Emory told us that Walter's improvement would become much more noticeable once he got to rehab. That has indeed been the case. In fact, his progress over the past week or so has been such that Shepherd has decided to extend his stay for two weeks, to mid-June. A brief synopsis of the past week:

Walter daily has become more aware of his surroundings. He is trying to sit up on his own and can pull himself up. The staff is working with him to learn how to transfer back and forth between bed and wheelchair, and they say he is doing well with that. He is saying more and more words: "yes", "no", "I love you", "lay down", for example. Watching ESPN, he asked Jessica to turn "vooloom uuuup", which means "volume up". Jessica said that she never thought she could get so excited over ESPN.

He does not like any restraint. Shepherd has had casts on his legs and feet for a while now, stretching out his Achilles tendon preparing him to stand. Those are to come off today. The therapists plan to put one on his left arm to start working to straighten it out. He has occasionally removed the straps off his wheelchair and almost fallen out. He has removed his catheter a few times, raising the ire of one of the more, let us say, authoritative nurses, one that knows how to get his attention.

Walter increasingly recognizes people when they enter the room. When Jessica came in the other night, the door barely creaked but he immediately opened his eyes and looked over at her. He recognized her, put his arm out and wanted a hug. I visited this past Sunday, and he, without any direction or encouragement, reached out and shook my hand. He is more and more engaged. His eyes still continue to struggle somewhat with focusing and tracking, though, but that is improving.

Yesterday was a red letter day. He ate chocolate pudding and wanted more! I cannot imagine what that must have tasted like after tasting nothing for six weeks. The doctors plan a swallow test later this week. Hopefully Walter will move increasingly toward eating and drinking instead of being fed everything through the peg to his stomach.

Also yesterday, the Shepherd patients received visits from the Falcons rookie team and cheerleaders. Walter, Dad and Mom met several: John Parker Wilson, Garrett Reynolds, Peria Jerry, Vance Walker, Rashad Bobino, William Moore. Dad was extremely impressed with their friendliness. Several of them took a special interest in Walter, due in part to his flawless execution of certain "ethnic handshakes", I'll call them. Dad tells me that the African-American players were extremely impressed. Dad set one or two of them up by asking them to come over and shake Walter's hand and telling them to go slow with him due to his condition. Dad loved watching the surprise on their faces when Walter moved through the progressions with such ease.

We recognize progress because we are starting to think about "what next", in terms of living arrangements, etc. Please pray for guidance, wisdom and patience as we work through that. And, as always, please continue to pray for Walter's continuing healing, with thanks for the journey to this point.