July 10 AM Update

Morning! Josh is in a good bit of pain, but he’s being super strong. The staff is removing his balloon pump as we speak; hopefully by this evening or tomorrow, Josh will be sitting up and trying to walk a little.

While Mrs. Malone and I are breathing again today for the first time in a week, it will probably be Josh’s hardest day. He’s never had any surgery, so this type of pain is completely new to him. The nurses tell us he should start making rapid progress soon, back to where he was before the surgery. He’s on as much pain medicine as humanly possible, but with such a severe surgery we knew they wouldn’t be able to manage all his pain.

He’s strong though, both mentally and physically, and understands he just needs to make it another day or two and the worst will pass. I didn’t realize until today what a mental mess I was this past week and how Josh was keeping strong for us. Now we’re trying our best to be strong for him.

It has been a slow morning, and I apologize for not having more to share. I will hopefully have for you all this evening or in the morning.