THURSDAY MORNING

Good Morning Friends - Remember to help your friends, families, neighbors, and stranger to understand what Molly is facing and has faced, send them to www.mfrenchtrek.blogspot.com And feel free to email us direct at jameyandmolly@gmail.com Tuesday and Wednesday were great days. Molly continues gain strength and improve in every aspect. The doctors said yesterday that her skin grafts continue to look great as do her stumps. He said he would think that they could graft her stumps next week, not for sure, but very likely. If this is the case, this could very well be Molly's last surgery. YEAH!!!! As I left on Tuesday night, one of the Chief Residents (one who typically quite and does not show a lot of emotion, more business like, yet extremely nice and likable, just not as "social" as some of the others) said to me as I was leaving that "Your wife is doing great, we are so happy for you and her. She has become the star patient on the unit, we all like you and her a lot and can't wait for her to get out of here, but will miss you both when she does." That kind of stuff from the staff means so much. Yesterday, we got to go outside again, but this time in a wheelchair so we were much more mobile and got to see some of the hospital. It was just her and I. It was beautiful out yesterday, but quite cold, so we did not stay out too long, but got to get a little sun. Molly said "its cold, but it feels so good." As we were leaving the unit, it was like a reception line with much of the staff lining up to say hi, tell her how great it wass to see her up in the chair, told us to remember to come back, etc. Again, this place keeps amazing me each and everry day with not only their medical care and capabilities, but their "team" approach to everything and the deep genuine care and concern about their patients and the patient's family. I can't begin to tell you how many times a staff member (even those that have not really taken direct care of Molly) have asked me if I needed anything, if I was doing ok, if I was eating and getting rest, etc. As you enter the main entrance to the hospital there are several very large banners with pictures of doctors, nurses, patients, etc. with short "marketing" type mesages on them. But in the middle of these is one with no pictures and simply says, "Our triumphs do not come from research alone, Or from the hands of a single doctor, but from the rewards as a result of working together." This is more than a few words on a banner here, Molly and I have truly seen this in action, it it makes a huge difference in the way medical care is delivered. They do not just talk about "team" here, they truly live it. Now, don't gete worried, this new found respect for U of M only goes as far as their medicine. However, I must say that I may feel a little guilty rooting against Michigan come this fall . . . . but only for the first minute of the game! Go Bucks! O - H Back to Molly. She continues to eat a little at each meal, not a lot but some. She says the food is pretty good, but I question that as she said the fruit cocktail they gave her during the swallowing study was coated in barium to help it show up in the x-rays, and she said that tasted good. I guess we need to pray for her tastebuds to wake up too. Other great news yesterday is that her voice is starting to come back a little. It is still very hoarse and she has to strain a bit to get it out, but it is there. She still continues to whisper a lot because it takes considerable effort to gete her voice, but the good news is that it is back a little and with each new day, it should get stronger and stronger until I am sure I will be wishing it was gone again. LOL! We did a lot of exercises with her arms and hands yesterday and she did great. She and the therapist set some short term goals for the end of the week and we are working towards these goals. Since the therapist cannot be there all day, she basically sees how Molly is progressing, and then adds a few new exercises and lets her and I work on them throughout the day. Last night I went to Einstien Brothers Bagels (a bagel / coffee shop here in the hospital) and got a frozen strawberry smoothie, and split it with Molly. These things are wonderful and Molly really enjoyed it as did I. Today she will receive dialysis, get dressing changes and then hopefully later today if she is not too tired from the dialysis we can go for another stroll outside and througout the hospital. This is great for her spirits and mine, and helping her build up her strength. For those of you wanting to come visit, please contact me first, as Molly is really looking forward to visits and wants to be able to enjoy them, but if she has dialysis or some other procedure it really wears her out and she is unable to enjoy the visits. So, please call me or email me first so i can let you know what is scheduled, etc. Also, do not want to overwhelm her or the staff with too many visitors at one time. Just so you know, she gets dialysis on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. SPECIFIC PRAYER AREAS

• Continued healing of her wounds
• Return of normal function of her kidneys
• Overall physical strength
• Voice to return to normal (this one may come with conditions :) )
• Hands, arms and fingers to return to normal function soon
• Spirits for her and I
• Clarity to help us know how to help others

Thanks again for all the prayer and thoughts, you will never know how much it means to us.

Keep praying each day, not only for us, but for the many families struggling with similar and worse things than we are. Pray that they know peace and have no fear as they face their struggles.

God Bless each of you,

Love,

Jamey & Molly