Demetrius, P. 3

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I went out to Ohio June 4 - 8 to see Tecumseh!, visit a few folks I know, see Jen, and of course, to visit Dee. By the way, everyone at T! did a stellar job from what I saw. The understudies really stepped up to the plate. I had the chance to see a couple of run-throughs and the first couple of official performances, and what I saw was a good, solid show. Kudos to them. Go see it.

I saw Dee on Saturday the 7th. Before Jen and I went in, we talked to mutual friend Geddy, who had visited him a bit earlier. He told us that Dee has continued responding to nerve tests, and that he opened his eyes when Geddy talked to him, he responded a bit with his eyes when Geddy indicated another friend in the room. All good news.

When we went in, Dee pretty much slept. This was not unexpected -- his earlier responses with Geddy were probably about all he was up for at the time. Dee was still on a respirator, but it was just giving him a bit of an assist, it wasn't doing the breathing for him. In fact, while we were there, Dee took a couple of deep breaths and shifted his body a bit. These are excellent, I think -- he has full body movement, and his muscles want to move. I talked to him a bit, told him he needs a new barber, but mostly I just held his hand.

Some of Dee's family were at the hospital. When we left, we gave a hug to his mother, shook hands with his dad, said hello to a couple of aunts. They seem to be bearing through it okay, though I know recent improvements have helped on that account.

Since then I've only heard a touch more. Good stuff -- he has has communicated to a degree with his mom, doing 1-finger-for-yes-2-for-no stuff (I don't think he could actually talk right now because of the ventilator tube), and apparently gave a thumbs-up when his mom prayed and said amen. Occasionally his temperature will spike, and when that happens they sedate him so he'll rest.

And that's what I know. Good news, certainly. I'm impatient, I want more, faster. Turns out he left a couple of comic books in Jen's car. I read 'em, of course. I'm waiting for him to call me and say, "Hey, send me my comic books!"