The physical therapist came by and we rolled Josh up to the gym for his therapy. Steve, the therapist, gave Josh 3 different balls 1 at a time to hold. He gave Josh a small football first, and Josh just let it fall through his legs. The same thing happened when he was given a large "nurf" ball. The last ball Josh was given was a basketball, and he must have recognized the texture, because he held his hand on it in his lap for the remainder of my stay. (About 2 hours.)

Josh was forever playing basketball before the accident. Nights, days, and in the snow and cold wind he was out there with whoever he could round up, or by himself. So him holding onto the basketball made me feel good.

One other thing that made my day. Steve, (the therapist) told me that the day before he had asked Josh to say something while he (Steve) covered the tracheotomy hole with his finger. Josh did make a sound. So while Josh had the plug in I asked him to say "Hi Dad" and he made a sound for me too. He cannot speak words because the tracheotomy tube is between his vocal cords, but apparently there is enough room for Josh to force a little air past them and make a sound. The really big thing was that he seemed to do it when asked to. Josh wouldn't repeat it for Steve or for me, but it sure did sound great to hear a sound after over a month of nothing but that machine breathing for him.