On November 1st, my grandma came to visit. She brought a Green Bay Packers Santa hat, two sets of pajamas, and a set of slippers with treads on the bottom. She also took pictures of me with all of my bandages and IVs.

Soon after my grandma (whom I just call Grandma) arrived, my physical therapist stopped by my room. She wanted me to try walking outside of my room for the first time. For the past few days I had been slowly increasing my activity. One day, I sat up on the edge of my bed. The next day, I sat on a rocking chair in my room. As of then, I had not yet taken more than a few steps at a time.

I agreed, and with Grandma and my physical therapist at my side I left the room.

I was surprised by the hall. It was rather quiet, and there was a surprising lack of children. Well, it was surprising then. Looking back, I was in the ICU, so all of the children there were in critical condition.

As we walked down the hall, I was shocked at how weak I felt. Just walking 30 yards (to the end of the hall) and back exhausted me. It was much harder to walk such a short distance than I expected, but I did it anyway. The whole thine my grandma encouraged me, and she even got a picture.

When we got back to my room, Grandma and I just talked for a while. I could tell she was worried about me, and it made her feel better to see me up and moving. We talked about a lot of things, mostly football. The Packers had lost badly just a day or two before.

About half an hour after I got back in my room, my dad came by. We all joked around for about another half hour, before my dad and grandma went home. That was one of the best days in my entire hospital stay.