From Jose 12/2/08

All,

I stopped by the hospital yesterday. Marco has been out of ICU for two or three days now. He still is not allowed visits by friends, only family. There is a sign on his door saying this very clearly. I was lucky to be around when a doctor came to check on him and I was able to hear about his condition.

Marco continues improving although he still needs a lot of attention and family members caring for him 24 hours. He has less tubes connected to his body so he can move easier now. He has lost some weight but still physically strong. He is tired of being on the bed all the time and is desperate to walk around the room. He is able to stand up and take short steps but loses equilibrium and needs to be helped. His voice is not back yet and is not able to communicate that way. The speech therapist says he is improving on this and is asking Marco to make an effort to emit sounds to the best of his ability. Marco is able to sit on the bed or even in a wheelchair. He likes to go around the floor and see other people. At times Marco loses patience because people don’t understand him but most of the time he is able to communicate by signs or pointing to objects or more commonly by answering to yes or no questions. This takes a lot of effort from family members and you can see some frustration on all people involved. Nevertheless, everybody agrees Marco is making tremendous progress day by day.

Today Marco was supposed to have two surgeries. One surgery was to insert a tube on his side directly to his stomach so he could be fed that way until he can eat by himself. The second surgery was to put back the bone in the back of his head. The doctor said this means they consider Marco’s brain to be back to normal size, with no swelling and the stuff draining out is either stopped or minimum. After this surgery Marco would be sent back to the ICU for few hours until the doctor think is sage to send him back to his room. We were told there is risk involved in the surgery but the doctors thought it was time to put back the bone. There is a couple of therapist coming to see him almost everyday to evaluate his progress. We hear of Marco going within few days to full therapy to help him gain strength and to walk by himself; and therapy to help him with his speech faculties; and some other therapies needed.

The family is hopeful and faithful on a full recovery but they realized it will take several months before things go back to normal. Sometimes I hear Marco will be in the hospital for two or three months and sometimes I hear up to six months. I do not know the full path of his recovery but although Marco is certainly impressing everybody with his fast recovery my own opinion is that he may be there at least for another month. I imagine at some point in time we will know for sure what path the doctors prescribe for Marco.

Thanks,