Tuesday December 31, 2002 7:00am

Russ was more awake yesterday. His eyes were open during therapy. His nurse Jeanna said that he looked at her when she was cleaning his stomach tube. More importantly she said that he followed her with his eyes as she moved from one side to the other. He is moving his arms, shoulders, and head more. His legs don’t move very much but they do move a little. He moves more when we talk to him, play music for him, or play the phone messages for him. The therapists say he is doing well.

The nurses continue to work Russ off the oxygen. Yesterday he was breathing room air for 6.5 hours. Once again they did not put him back on the oxygen because he needed it, they put him back to give him a rest. They will try again today. If this continues to be successful they will eventually put a cap the trach tube. With the tube capped he will need to breath through his mouth and nose again. When he is OK breathing through his nose and mouth again they will consider removing the trach tube.

George-Anne had a long talk with Dr. Fellus. He is prescribing several medications for Russ to effect his consciousness. Each day he is monitoring his progress and changes the levels of these medications.

I really think the voice messages from everyone are helping him. If you haven’t left a message yet, please do. If you had trouble with the answering machine, I am sorry, please try again. It should be working now.

Thank you for your continued support.

Bob