New update on A.J.

"A.J. Update........

AJ is amazing. Her heart is doing the Timex thing -- takes a licking but keeps on ticking. Her most recent EKG showed enough small-but-steady improvement that her docs decided they could cut back on one of her heart medications. AND she was cleared for exercises to build muscle tone! (No, she's not going out for Ms. Body Builder. But better muscle tone will help prevent her from catching every infection that happens along.) So she celebrated:
--she spent 2 hours today with her tutor!
--she stayed out of bed ALL DAY (resting in a chair so that she can keep the bed for actual sleeping)!
--and she took a 7-minute walk around the ICU!

If these don't seem like major achievements, you may not realize just how wiped out she's been. This stuff is AWESOME. Go, AJ!

AJ had spent some of Monday in a sad mood, so her family rallied around to make her feel better. She got some spa treatment from her mom -- a bath, lotion, and a foot massage -- and some good "sister time" with Allie in the evening before Al arrived to do his version of Late Night with Al. She even got tacos for dinner! (Okay, they were low-potassium, low-phosphate, low sodium tacos, but they were still tacos!)

I'm thinking that all that family love definitely helped AJ get to the good place she's at today. The love that the rest of us send is just as powerful. So keep sending it -- it's just great. Don't ever underestimate how powerful we all are. I'll keep you posted, and we'll keep wishing and praying for more slow and steady progress."