July 16

Melinda had a peaceful and restful night last night. She is sleeping more and more every night. She actually slept the whole night.
Melinda had an appointment this morning at OU Medical Center with Ortho. Dr. Smith wanted to make sure her pelvis was doing ok and that she could handle all of her rehab. Dr. Roberts (Ortho) said her ex-rays showed she was healing and that he was not going to put any restrictions on her. This was wonderful news.
They put Melinda in a wheelchair at 9:00 to go to her appointment. After her appointment the transport people were called and we had to wait on them to come pick us up. We waited an hour before they showed up. When they showed up and got us loaded up and taken back to Jim Thorpe it was about 12:30. Melinda had enough time to lay down for a few minutes before her therapy groups started coming in at 1:00. Melinda usually starts therapy sessions at 8:30 in the morning and goes till about 2:30 or 3:00. Today everyone arranged their schedules so they would be able to work with Melinda in the afternoon. They worked until almost 5:00. Melinda was exhausted. She had her trachea capped off at 8:30 this morning and it remained in all day and evening until about 9:00 p.m. and she had no problems all day. Melinda was given oxygen tanks for her transport this morning but she did not need them. When she got back to her room we put her on a very small amount of oxygen by the nasal tubing. Melinda's stats were still good and not having problems so I think we put the oxygen on her just to make me feel better.
Melinda is coughing less and having less problems with her throat and secretions. I think Melinda could have kept her trachea cap on all night but respiratory said they had to follow orders and put the hoses back on her for the night.
Melinda is healing every day and getting stronger every day. Please keep praying God bless.