Texas-sized Christmas

We have never been down at Cook's near the Christmas holiday.  They go all out with decorations - inside and out.  The pictures here are just a small sample.  The circle drive out front has a 40 ft tree with some decorations that are themselves the size of a person.  Not a live tree, more of an sculpture/art work version of a tree.  Then in front of the main entrance there is a 25 ft Santa in his own little candy land/toy land.  It's a big state so they need a big Santa.

The Poulter's happened to be passing through town from the other direction on our first day here (yesterday).  Here's Pat and Peggy not being menaced at all by the Lone Star sized Santa.  Pat and Steve couldn't stay long and Adam was still dozing from surgery, but it was nice of them to drop in.

Here's a shot of the big atrium inside with tree, candy canes, snowman with list, and a more human size Santa thrown.  Santa wasn't in while we were there so we didn't get to sit on his lap.

What a difference a day makes.  Adam has been his old self today.  He hasn't napped, has eaten well, has been sitting up a lot and was even up and around some.  The main difference from last time is the absence of the severe 'spinal headache' type pain.  He has some discomfort around the incisions and such, but at very manageable and expected levels.  We expect to be able to go home tomorrow.

The pump is turned on and he was getting a small starter dose for most of the day.  The pump is currently set to 100 units of medication per day.  Even at that level he has noticed some more control of his hand and he was able to stand flat on his left foot briefly.  A 'high' setting might be 600 units per day.  This evening they bumped him up to 150 and assuming that works out okay, then to perhaps 200 in the morning.  That is the likely level they will send us home with at this point.  Then we'll come back in a couple weeks for a follow-up.  The trick will be to find the sweet spot where the spasticity is as relaxed as you can get it without turning the rest of the body into too much of a noodle (the Baclofen is a muscle relaxant).  The test we had last August where he was quite a bit looser for a short while was a 100 unit injection, but that was all in one quick shot, so it would be equivalent to something higher per day than these initial levels were at today.