A Return to Yakima

Hello again- after a long two weeks away I returned to Yakima to see amazing results. We'll start with Friday.

Although I was not there on Friday, she had a fantastic day. Paul was there--and when she saw him she broke out into a big smile, or so I'm told :). She was awake for almost 4 hours that afternoon. By awake, she was able to: open her eye (right only) maintain contact, follow you around the room, and was even admiring the beautiful artwork (pictures) I had put on the wall from the very first day. According to Paul and Dad she was laughing, crying, and trying to even mouth words to them. She would squeeze hands, wiggle toes, and even fingers. The rehab doc, Marj, even came in and caught her in this state and put her in a chair for an hour or so. She still has the trache in, although they did test with a different "cover" that would allow her to speak and swallow easier. After that much activity and stimulation, she was absolutely exhausted, and visibly needed to lie back down and take some rest.

Saturday was a much quieter day. I arrived expecting miracles, but she is not one to perform when expected. She slept most of the day. The best I got from her was a GRIMACE when I was doing some PT with her legs!

After some metabolite correction overnight (sodium, etc) she had a much better morning. Dad and I arrived this morning in her room by about 8:30am. By 9am, she opened her eye and got her first true glimpse of me in over a month---and burst into tears! Not the reaction I expected, as it made me cry. I held her hand and told her to not cry because it made me cry and upset, when I was so happy that she was awake and doing so well. Maybe she was upset that I was back and yelling in her ear again! I'm kidding, of course, they were, hopefully, tears of being overwhelmed and excited. I then pulled up a chair and began reading some of the great cards that had been sent to her over the last 4 weeks. I made her cry again. Apparently I am not so great at the awake-bedside work.... She did finally give me a good smile-which made my day. We turned on the US OPEN for her to watch, which you know she enjoyed. I worked with her legs a bit, gave her a good lotion rub down on her arms, legs, and feet, and just chatted her ear off. Even called Grandma so she could tell Mom how much she loved her. She did her best to stay awake until about 1pm, when she was obviously tired. We did not put her in the chair today, but had the bed raised so she could clearly look around the room. While awake, she did a fantastic job of looking around and focusing on the various people in the room (gave Dayton a great hello smile when he walked in) and was constantly watching what we were all doing around the room. It must have felt great to actually SEE the activity in the room, instead of just listening.

I gave her a big hug and kiss when I left this afternoon- as it might be many weeks before I will able to head back over. If she can improve as much as she did in the last 2 weeks, in the next 4 or 6---I can hardly imagine what she will be able to do when I see her next! Until next time- I once again leave you in Rhonda's very capable hands!