Update on Where I am at as of Oct 6th, 2009

Hi All,

Today is Day 18 since being admitted to the hospital with Guillain Barre Syndrome. It has been a bumpy road but we seem to be on the comeback side of it. Slow and focused is the pace. I am still living at the Mission Oaks Rehabilitation hospital. The people have been great, the facility and the treatment is outstanding and the food sucks! Oh and the bed is pretty brutal too but they give me sleeping meds so I don’t notice to badly until the mornings.

In the past few days….
• I have walked on my own with a lot of help and no cane for about 10 yards
• Walked with a cane but on my own otherwise for about 25 yards at a time – 2 x a day but I am exhausted by the end of it to the point where I have to return to bed for a bit
• Walked up 3 pretend stairs with the use of two railings
• Learned how to sit and stand
• Stood on my own for as long as 5 minutes while holding something to support my weight
• Psychologically struggling with commotion and having some increased anxiety but it seems to be in line with the level of stress that this type of event should cause. Otherwise very positive and thankful.
• Suffering from “sea sickness” after expending energy or physically exerting myself

Coming up on the horizon…..
• We have a tentative Discharge date of October 15th, 2009
o We are hopeful that I will be able to operate semi self sufficiently meaning do most in home functions mostly on my home or with some assistance by
o Still we need a cane for some functions in the house and at minimum when operating outside of the home
o Will need a wheelchair to do any activity outside of the home that requires more than 30 minutes of standing or 1000 feet of walking – that should likely last for about 4-6 weeks from the discharge date
• Planning a trip to the Grocery store to understand how difficult regular daily activities really are but also to get some groceries to practice preparing a meal – you know me!
• Hopefully getting out of here on Thursday night for my first reward of going to a sharks game – the home opener
• Hopeful to Confident that I will still regain all functions to 100%
• Confident that I will regain at least 90% of the “normal” abilities of someone my age
• Confident that I can return to athletics at some level
• Limited expectation about high level performance although it is still very much a possibility we are trying to focus on more tangible short term goals

As for how we are doing as a family, we couldn’t be better! Hah LOL!!! I mean to say we are as good or better than you could expect for having to go through this. Jennifer has been a rock star. My parents and Sister and Doug and Sally all went above and beyond and have been incredible. The family and friend support has been awesome and we use it for buoyancy all of the time to help us keep above water.

We are extremely thankful for a long list of things that I won’t bore you with, but know that you if you are reading this, you just made the list! We are so very thankful and aware that this will only make us stronger and that there are positives that we can see already and many more lessons to come as we continue on.

Thanks so much for the continued support,
Jim, Jenny, Wyatt, Jackson and soon to be Olivia James Moss