16 sept

More improvement this morning - when I came into the isolation room, which is situated in ICU, Lynette said look Colin here's Leon and he looked at me and nodded, quite clearly compos mentis, and a bit later the nurse made a comment which made him smile - first time I've seen him smile since the accident, but he's still very heavily sedated and drifting in and out of consciousness and haziness - I mention names of people and he kind of registers - sister says they will be doing an x ray of his lungs tomorrow but she can see that there are no secretions and the fluid coming out is clear, instead of yellow as it was last week, and theres much less - he's breathing easier, heart rate down to 61 but fluctuates when he wakes to around 80 - 90. Once they take him off the respirator they put him on oxygen for three days but with a metal valve in his throat in case they need to plug him in again - When they take him off respirator depends on outcome of x rays and whether he can breathe on is own, which seems to depend on the infection. He is also being fed through a pipe and his stomach and intestines are retaining nutrients. His lip is healing well and skin colour is good, swelling going down all over , neck nearly back to normal dimensions, The operation wounds are still weeping at the shoulder and leg but he is on day three of the new antibiotic and responding very well.

He has been through the valley of the shadow of death and come out on the other side but still has a moer of a long way to go - mom has an appointment with the orthopod tomorrow and will find out when we can start thinking of transporting him back to EL - probably not for a week or two or at least until he's off the ventillator and breathing comfortably on his own. I'm off to Queenstown tomorrow for a week but will post second hand reports ex mom.