Andy & I visited Joey last night and he’s doing better! They’ve been able to reduce both the percentage of oxygen through the respirator and the amount of sedatives they’re giving him. His skin color is much better. We talked with his mom a little and she told us that, according to the docs, if he keeps improving they should be able to take him off the respirator altogether on Monday.

The really good thing is that when we visited him and stood bedside, he opened his eyes a little and nodded at us. I prattled on with stupid jokes, trying to be funny, and he was definitely responsive. He even greeted us with the sarcastic eyebrow raise that you friends of Joey should know so well. He was, of course, too weak to do much else. But he was definitely conscious. We stayed and talked at him for about fifteen minutes. It was really encouraging to see him looking better.

I’m going to visit him again this afternoon.