Finger, Friends and Feeding Tube

Yesterday afternoon, Taylor got real aggravated about something. He's unable to speak to us, so we have to ask questions he can shake his head "yes" or "no" to. This makes it very difficult sometimes to determine what he needs. We have a checklist we go through and can usually figure it out. Yesterday we just couldn't figure out what he needed as quickly as he wanted us to. It was obvious he was frustrated. So, he demonstrated his ability to control his left hand by giving us "the finger". We asked if he wanted us to just leave him alone and he shook his head "yes".

His Nurse yesterday, Julie, had seen Taylor flip off the Doctor and us, so she made a warning sign for those who may come to visit. We KNOW Taylor will laugh out loud when he sees the photo and will only be bummed that HE wasn't the one that made it.

We heard from a friend in Tampa that she spoke to a friend of hers in Lakeland who had seen an SUV with "We Love You Taylor" written on the window. Last night Suzie and Lauren stayed home . On the way to the hospital this morning, they spotted an SUV with that message on the back window and stopped to take a picture. Jessica Kent, Taylor's friend, works nearby so Suzie borrowed her camera to take the photo. We've since learned that the SUV is owned by Taylor's friend, Lisa Mohler. We haven't seen it, but we heard Shivani Patel also has something about Taylor written on her car. One of the Pastors that visited Taylor saw it in the parking garagee one evening when Shivani was here.

We'll take positive thoughts any way we can get them!

5:55pm

Taylor: Take me home
Lauren: We can't. You have to stay here and get better.
Taylor: Shut up.

While Taylor can't speak, he can mouth words and we can figure out what he's saying. He's getting more active and more of a challenge for his nurses.

This afternoon, he completely pulled the feeding tube out of his stomach. He removed every bit of it. This coming Monday, the staff is going to give him some tests to see if he can swallow, so they have decided not to reinsert the tube since the test is less than 48 hours away. An IV will give him calories so he'll be OK until then. Cross your fingers that the test goes well.