DAY 4: "If you have a body like me, you dont cover it up with a shirt!"

Day 4:

Tuesday

March 27, 2012

I’m sure that everyone knows the daily routine by now. Get up early, get ready, and get to the hospital and see Josh! When I went upstairs to see my mom, she had told me that the hospital had called because Josh was writing about his friend Mikey Truex. The nurse said that Josh had requested that Mikey knew what was going on because he is supposed to be the best man at his wedding in August! (Or so Josh thinks!)

We got to the hospital and normally we walk right into Josh’s room to let him know we are there. But this morning we were told that Josh  couldn’t have any visitors and that his blood pressure was up too high. Josh has been in a laying down position for the last few days and they decided to see if there would be any changes if they put him in the sitting position.  Hours and hours had passed and we were all getting angry that we couldn’t see Josh. Finally the nurse came in and said that Josh had requested that Shasta came to see him. So she went into his room and was in there for what seemed like forever. We have had no news about Josh all day and that was really frustrating for us….

Shasta came back about 45 minutes later  and said they took out Josh’s ventilator and that he asked to see his sister! At first we were kind of angry that no one told us that they were taking out his ventilator but we were still excited because that meant that Josh was progressing.

I walked into Josh’s room and said “Hey dude, how’s being able to breathe on your own?” and he replied “it’s awesome!” HOLY SHIT JOSH CAN SPEAK!!! I was so excited that Josh could talk, his voice is a little raspy and deep but he can speak and his is speech is normal!” Josh must have had so many things going through is mind that he is full of things to talk about now that he is able to speak instead of writing down his thoughts.

The coolest thing that Josh has been saying to everyone is “I had a stroke, but it’s no big deal because I’m gonna get through it!” What a fighter! He has told my mom that he wanted to start training for the Ironman so they could do it together next year! He told me that we were getting tattoos on Monday and that he was going to call his guy tomorrow!

Josh has moved from his hospital gown to a pair of hospital shorts. He is sitting in his room without a shirt and just pants on. When my mom walked into his room she said, “Josh, are you cold?” and Josh replied “When you have a body like this, you don’t cover it up with a shirt!”   Ladies and gentleman THAT is a typical Josh Pickens saying and we couldn’t be happier that even though he has been beaten up the past 4 days with scars he is not insecure with himself one bit!

For some reason I’m having a hard time writing today because it has just been an overwhelming day full of excitement. But as many of you would probably agree, a picture is worth a million words so here you go… THIS is what all of your generous thoughts and prayers have done for my family and most importantly my brother.