Update on Tommie...

Please keep in mind that when I get these "updates" that they're coming from like 2 or 3 different family members, all after passing through Steve. So when I use extremely non-medical terms and descriptions, it's not my fault.

So, today, they cut back on his ventilator, just to force him to breathe a bit more here and there on his own. He did just that when they knocked it down to 6, so this is a good thing. Keep fighting, Tommie!

They put a tube in his right lung today in order to drain the fluid that had developed in there, and he came through that surgery just fine. (Again... good.)

Now keep in mind, they still haven't closed him up from his surgery a week ago because his bowels/colon/intestines are SO swollen from his infections right now, that truthfully, they probably wouldn't fit back him in right now. So he's basically been wide open for a week. They have his wrists strapped down so that if he does come to here and there, he doesn't reach down near his abdomen.

Anyway, they said that he had a very, VERY slight decrease in swelling today, which again, is good. Tomorrow, they're going to basically going to(here's the part where non-medical terms are used) lift out his intestines and "scrub them down" to try to get rid of the infection. They're supposedly going to use the standard solution, as well as add some kick ass stuff to really try to beat this infection. At this point, it's not the Crohn's disease that's causing the problem, but the infection that has developed from his other surgeries, etc. So tomorrow, they'll try to clean him up.

They're also going to take him off antibiotics tomorrow to try to make his body fight off the infection. He's had so many antibiotics pumped into him the past few weeks, that they're starting not to work, so I guess they think that maybe if they take him OFF of them, his body will start to fight the problem on its own.

Anyway, then early next week, they'll repeat the surgery of cleaning his insides and then (god willing) may be able to put everything back in and close him up. It would still be a long healing process, but at least at that point, they'd be able to wake him up and start the road to recovery.

So he's not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot. And so much could change in an instant. But for now, we're hoping that he's starting to heal. And we're optimistic that the doctors seem to have such a solid plan to try to make him better.

Thank you all so much for the thoughts, prayers and comments. They mean the world to us. And if you could keep them coming, we'd all really appreciate it!