A little catch up is in order, I'll try and fill in some blanks left since leaving Florida.

We had a good trip back, except for the unplanned day spent at the St. Louis VA getting my feeding tube replaced. What a difference there is between the various VA hospitals! I feel blessed to have the Minneapolis VA and the great crew at the SCI/D (spinal cord injury/disability) clinic to work with.

As Grace's earlier post indicated, we spent a few weeks in an RV park when we arrived in Minneapolis, it was only blocks from our old house which felt homey and allowed Grace to immediately get back into school and connect with her friends.

It was also where I started having difficulty sleeping because of choking on saliva as my throat muscles weakened.

We found an apartment, albiet a bit expensive, but the location is convenient and comfortable. It was a little more than a week before we had to call the ambulance to get me to the VA after several nights of trying to find a position to sleep in, without gagging.

The night we gave in was the third of no sleep. I was accompanied by good friend Ephram, who stayed with me in the ER through the morning, keeping me awake. Then Keya took over for several more hours while we waited to get in for the tracheostomy procedure.

Fortunately Keya had recently returned from a vision quest, so had some amazing things to share.

Next post I'll pick up with the trach...