Diane - and a dozen other people

8:50am

Yesterday we made another trip to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida to follow up on his eyelid surgery. The Dr. said it looked great - better than he would expect it to so soon.

We talked again about the options for surgery to help control the left side of his mouth. There is a brand new procedure that is yet another option that we hadn't previously discussed. The Dr. suggested waiting until the early part of '08 to make a decision, but some of the options should be done within 18 months of the accident, so Taylor still has some time to decide what to do.

If Taylor could have thanked those who helped save or care for him in proper order, one of those at the top of the list would be Diane, a nurse at the Medical Intensive Care Unit.

Angie, Taylor and Diane

She had her hands full on March 6th when Taylor's brain pressure went out of control. As soon as she got him off to surgery, she had to deal with Taylor's mother, who was had a major melt down that had been building for 5 days. No one had to tell us, but we knew at that moment that Taylor's life was in jeopardy, and his survival now depended on what happened in the operating room with Dr. Campanelli. Even though everyone that helped Taylor is special, there are a couple of "extra" special ones, and Diane is on the short list.

Angie was working yesterday too. She supervises this particular shift and was great support for us. All of the nurses not only have to care for the patient, but they also serve to help parents like us from completely losing our minds. Ironically, Angie is the sister-in-law of a family, the Willcockson's that lived next door to us a few years ago.

We also stopped by to see Jack Stevens, the CEO of the hospital, and his assistant Fran. Taylor's mother knew them prior to Taylor becoming a patient, and they checked on him while he was there for 2 months.

While waiting for an elevator, a woman we didn't recognize - whose name we don't know - smiled at us and began to comment on how good Taylor looked. She said that she had inserted a PIC line (a port used to introduce IV's) for him. He had 2 done, since he snatched one out when he was in ICU. The most recent one would have been done in early April, so she has a pretty amazing memory.

We learned that Dr. Campanelli was at the hospital and tracked him down to the Operating Room. We were told he was finishing up his fourth for the day, and would be out soon, so we waited by the OR doors for him so we could say hi. While waiting for him, we saw a man and woman we had met in March in the ICU waiting room who were back due to another relative having surgery. They knew how badly Taylor was injured, and were obviously surprised to see him standing and talking.

Dr. Campanelli and his Physican's Assistant, Melissa, came out of the OR and visited with us a while. We told them that Taylor went to a Halloween party over the weekend, and went at himself - wearing a hospital gown. His friend, Tim Valdez, went as "Dr. Campanelli".

As we were about to leave, or former next door neighbors, (on the other side of where the Willcockson's lived) Jimmy and Lou Ann Strickland and daughter "Lewter", saw us and came over to see Taylor. We hadn't seen them in several years. Lou Ann told Taylor's mother that she had seen the Mother's Day article she had written about Taylor, but it upset her too much to read the entire story.

Yesterday was a fun visit. We went to see 1 person, and ended up visiting with almost a dozen. Being with Taylor is sometimes like being with a celebrity.