James has been sometimes having a period before he falls asleep where he seems a bit agitated.  He moves his legs up and down the bed,   lifts his head off the pillow and grimaces.  Until a week ago he had the cuff up on his tracheotomy tube and could not make noises because air could not get past his vocal chords.  Last night when he seemed agitated I noticed that he was making a very quiet moaning sound and sometimes a crying sound.  The nurses said that they had not heard it.  Tonight when I went to say goodnight to him,  I heard him from the hallway!  He is still not terribly loud but remarkably louder than he was last night!  I got the nurses to come and hear him.  I feel better that he has a way to communicate,  even if it is pretty basic.  He is opening his right eye a lot more now too.  The nurses are feeling that his pupil in the right eye is responding quicker than it was as well.  Sometimes it appears that his right eye is trying to move with the left eye too! 

My Dad came to Victoria and took me to the book signing of "March Forth"  by Trevor and Debbie Greene.  I had prepared a note to give to them with a brief synopsis of James' story as well as my contact info.  I hoped but did not expect that they would be comfortable contacting me.   They were amazing,  not only are they comfortable but they gave me their info too.  Debbie said that she would ask the neuroscientist that they work with if he will see James when he is on the island in a month or two!  They wrote some words of wisdom in the book for James too.  "Stay the course and never give up! (from Trevor)" and "You can get your life back! (from Debbie)" What a night!  A huge Thank you to my dad for dinner and getting me to the signing and my bestie, Allie for prebuying the book for me!

Tomorrow  I present to the student nurses on our floor about what traits or behaviours that nurses do that are the most helpful to families and patients.