Tuesday June 30, 2009: This morning's visit with Tesfaye found him in good spirits. Lise was there and told me because of the Canada Day holiday the special barium swallow test would not be occuring until Thursday morning, July 2nd. Nothing we can do except wait for then and hope that the swallow test is successful so that Tesfaye can start actually eating without the feeding tube. I will be heading out of town for a few days, but Tesfaye and Lise know that my children will be around to visit and that I plan for Haley to attend at the swallow test. Of course, I am always available by cell phone and I will be close to Vancouver. For Amharic translation Melaku will generally make himself available.
Later this morning Melaku and I try to connect with the shop owner at the town near Tesfaye's village to try to get a message to his mother that Tesfaye is doing fine and had successful surgery. The last time we were able to talk to her was before the surgery. We have tried a few other times but it is difficult making a connection. It was very frustrating earlier this morning when we were able to connect, but in the end the lady never came to the phone and it disconnected after about 10 minutes. No luck this time either -- we will try again later tonight.
After a busy day at work I went to my scheduled workout at 6:30 pm, then went back to the office for final "leaving town" cleanup. Melaku and I then tried by conference call to connect with Ethiopia around 10 pm to pass the message on to Tesfaye's mother. After many failed attempts over the course of almost an hour, we finally did get through and left a message to be passed on. After finishing my work cleanup just after midnight I decided to look in on Tesfaye for the last time before leaving town for a few days. He was sleeping peacefully, and Kerry told me that things were pretty much status quo: good mobility but the same issues with clearing of his chest. It will be strange not to be around to visit Tesfaye until Sunday, but I know that my children and Melaku will continue to visit and give me updates.
Wednesday July 1, 2009: Happy Canada Day! Haley and Jim gave me a good report that Tesfaye was getting in and out of a chair well, had been sitting for a couple of hours, and they were able to see him walk for the first time. He is walking very well on his own, only needing someone beside him because of the feeding tube still attached to him. It does mobilize secretions in his chest, a good thing, but Tesfaye's ability to cough strongly enough on his own to clear them still needs to develop. Looking forward to tomorrow's swallow test.
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