{Karlton Bontrager}

Karlton was able to write to us last night. He indicated that he wanted to write, and the RN picked up on that. She put a blank sheet of paper on a clipboard and gave him a felt-tip marker. He was lying down with his head raised, so it must have been awkward writing in [...]

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I called the hospital last night, and while I was talking to my dad, he said that Karlton was trying to write something. My mom later told me that the nurse had asked him what his name was, and he had written “Karlton.” She then asked if he knew where he was, and he wrote [...]

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Alexa and I just got off the phone with Mom, and she had more encouraging news. Karlton has been moved out of the ICU and into the “High Dependency Unit,” which is a level down in terms of seriousness. He is continuing to breathe on his own. He spends a lot of time sleeping, which [...]

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Good news! Karlton “graduated” out of the ICU yesterday. His breathing stabilized enough for him to go to the High Dependency Unit (HDU). They moved him about 2:00p in the afternoon. Yesterday morning, while I was emailing updates, Choy (his mom) and the nurse washed his hair. The staff have been great about shaving him [...]

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Karlton did really well yesterday sitting up in the Lay-Z-Boy recliner. The changed posture and the new requirements to support his breath exhausted him. He did a lot of sleeping. He was also successful with the new ventilator. The doctors are encouraged, and we’ve been told repeatedly that he’s likely to be moving to another [...]

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Yesterday afternoon KS had the tracheostomy (Kiwi for tracheotomy, I guess). Before, he had the ventilator tube down his mouth. It had to be tied onto his head, and they tied it so tightly that he looked really uncomfortable, with his lips sqeezed b/w the ties. Also, he’d yawn and use his tongue to try [...]

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It sounds as if Karlton is making progress each day. I called the hospital last night, and my mother seems to think that Karlton is able to see, at least to some degree, through his left eye. She said that as he was sitting in his chair, she was doing something else nearby (not touching [...]

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We’re so excited. So many good things have happened. Last night when I returned from emailing at the university, a Chinese energy healer was there. Mom seemed to be comfortable with his work, and we could see marked changes in KS’s behavior. KS had been so restless before, reaching out with his right leg as [...]

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