Lamar Odom is 'Sitting in a Chair, Able to Speak and is even Sending Texts Now'

Since awakening from a three-day coma, Lamar Odom's health has been making a steady improvement as the Kardashian clan united around his bedside in a Las Vegas hospital over the weekend.

The former LA Lakers star, for the first time, could socialize and move around, and is 'heading in the right direction,' E! reports.

Odom also passed a swallow test, a promising sign of neurological function and an important step

because doctors took out his breathing tube and needed to ensure he could swallow on his own.

The 35-year-old was also helped out of his bed for the first time since being hospitalized Tuesday night. He was moved with assistance into a chair and his breathing showed no signs of distress. He continues to wear a mask to aid the flow of oxygen but he's breathing on his own.

The former L.A. Lakers star is communicating mainly with hand signals, thumbs up or thumbs down. We hear he's attempting to communicate with words but his speech is more or less limited to mumbles at this point.

The word is, however, that Lamar is "heading in the right direction. This is great progress but there is always the possibility for setbacks."

Odom was found unconscious Tuesday afternoon at a brothel in Crystal, Nev., after what doctors would later treat as a drug overdose. He was intubated at a hospital in nearby Pahrump and then transported to Sunrise Hospital in Vegas.