We Will NEVER Quit.

This was a really special day for me because I am now officially done with school! Today I graduated from ASU with my Bachelor's in English Literature and a minor in communication. I participated in the convocation ceremony, and it was really fun. My husband, parents, and Hannah were able to go watch and support me. It would have been cool to have my brothers there too, but they were there in spirit. Graduating from ASU was an amazing feeling. Today was also special because I got my dad to do something way out of his comfort zone. I got him to wear an ASU shirt. It took four years of work in college, but I got him in an ASU shirt...in public. It was a demonstration of true fatherly love. It was awesome. If you don't know my dad, just know that he loves U of A. Nothing more needs to be said.

Behold, the look of shame:

(I know he's going to kill me for posting this picture, but I will accept that. My death will have been for a worthy cause.)

Matthew also had a special day today. He woke up! It was amazing. He woke up and was extremely agitated because of the breathing tube down his throat. He was awake for almost an hour before the nurses and doctors decided that he was breathing well enough on his own to have it removed. It was really sad though because when we were waiting for it to come out he was stressing out really bad and jerking his head to try and get away from it. He also gagged on it a lot, and tried to pull his hands away from me and my mom while we were holding him. But...it was good that he was so alert, and he was pulling away from our hands with actual strength. We had to keep quite a grip on him. This is the most alert he has been since he went to the ICU. Once the breathing tube was out, he even coughed up the bloody mucus that built in his throat while the tube was there on his own. This is a big deal because the last time they took the tube out, they had to use a machine to make him cough it out. He still has mouth sores, but they don't look terrible. I shined a light and looked in his mouth today, and it's looking pretty good in there. 

Oh, and here's another cool thing that happened today...Exactly 24 hours after T's radiology, (give or take a few minutes) he woke up and was more alert than ever. The nurses were amazed and excited by this.

Anyways, Matthew has been getting these weird blood blister spots in various places on his body, so the nurses took a sample of one on his foot to test. They're just going to make sure it's not a fungus or anything dangerous. I'm sure they are nothing to worry about.

We put my grad cap on him when we got there. He's supporting ASU too!

Now you see it...

...Now you don't! The tube is out and he is coughing away! He still has humidified oxygen being given to him through his nose, but they are slowly lowering what they give him until he's fine on his own.