Derek's Awake!!!

Copied from Nelson's facebook page:

Friday Night:
Derek just woke up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is conscious and is able to communicate by nodding and shaking his head.
His family has just gathered and are looking for a doctor to authorize the removal of his breathing tube.
I told you the prayers were working.

Saturday Morning:
Derek pulled his breathing tube out himself, along with most other things attached to him. He is breathing well. He is having some trouble talking, which seems to be because his throat is sore from the tubes. His voice is low and labored.
Derek can remember the dive and not feeling good when he came out of the water. He has been asking lots of questions about what happened.
Roger asked Derek if he felt he could walk and Derek replied that he is good to go and wants to leave the hospital.
The reality is that he is still having difficulty controlling movements particularly in his legs. He can wiggle his toes, but with some difficulty.
The neurologist visited him briefly this morning and basically said that he looks good and left.
Overall this is great news. Derek can now communicate and that will make everything much easier.


Derek woke up last night! We had been debating who was going to go to the hospital after dinner and decided no one would go, that we would just let him sleep and all go wake him up in the morning together. At about 10:20 Derek's nurse called and said Derek was awake. So we all rushed into the car and drove to the hospital. I have never seen my whole family move so fast. We got to the room and Derek was excited to see us. He answered yes and no questions and gave us two thumbs up. In the morning the nurse called again and said Derek wanted to talk to his dad. So my parents rushed to the hospital with my brother Chad and the rest of us came later. He can barely talk because his throat is hurting him, but he was cracking us up. He was mad at his nurse Chip because he wouldn't get him a fan fast enough. He told us he hated Chocolate Chip. He told me he was in Kayenta sleeping in our guest room and was really thirsty, so that's why he pulled out his breathing tube. He's still his same self always trying to make people laugh. We are all so excited that he is doing better. And hopefully only keeps getting better.