June 20, 2008

Today brought many more visitors to Chris’ side. Rachel and Susie came in the afternoon. Tonya and Okie came in the evening and brought a huge banner that read “We Love You, Chris” and was signed by many of the people from Carlin. They also brought pictures of Chris and friends to hang on the walls of his room. Coach Harmon and I came as well and brought with us some of Chris’ good friends: Mathew, Anthony and Nathan. It seems that the visitors have helped Chris’ spirits as he was able to write quite a bit. Even though the hospital only allows two visitors at a time, they made a small exception long enough for all of us to gather around his bed for a group photo. Seeing the number of people that had come to see him seemed to make Chris feel good.

Of course, he again wrote about desperately wanting a drink, which broke all of our hearts. His nurses say that they might try removing his breathing tube in the next few days, but that they need to make sure that he can keep is blood pressure and heart rate under control before they can do that. For that reason, we all agree to try to keep his visits brief and try to stick with yes and no questions so that he doesn’t get frustrated trying to communicate more complicated messages.

Tiffannie and Earl seem glad for the company as well. They have been at the hospital nearly non-stop since Tuesday night and are not sleeping well. The good news is that there seems to be no shortage of people willing to watch their house and do small favors for them, which allows them to concentrate on being there for Chris.