Pass/Fail

As I enter into this unknown world of pass vs. fail (what we don't have a score!?!) my Mom had another "test" today. A doc came in and looked down her throat to see if there was any damage or scarring that he could see that might be causing difficulties, such as what we saw last Monday night. She passed. He even let me have a peak so I could look myself!
She is also experiencing some great new things in her therapies. In speech, they are always playing with gadgets and toys to improve her communication. I have told you about the touch-screen laptop where she can select letters on an alphabet board (or names, phrases, etc). Today, instead of using a "clicker" she just had to use her eyes. They have a special camera that follows her retina movement and she can use that to select on the screen for letters, phrases, etc. Pretty amazing!
In PT we put her on an exercise machine that moves her arms and legs at once. You might have seen these at rehab gyms, you are sitting, but put your feet on steps and hold onto bars and alternate pushing and pulling. Its a great workout for her, and stimulates her brain to coordinate her movements. It was obviously very tiring, and after 5 min, she had a visible sheen.
By the time we rolled her back into her room, the nurse arrived to say she was ready to take ME for a shower. 3 1/2 hours of therapy, moving, and showering, I left with her blessing, after lotioning and potioning and positioning her for bed. Sometimes its quality, not quantity!
I will meet with the speech therapist on Thursday to be taught some swallowing techniques- I may not bring a "big train" like dad, but I will look for something fun and interesting for her. Apparently Mom requested vanilla pudding and Gatorade for her first trial tomorrow. Meanwhile they will continue to pump her stomach full of "Ensure" for her meals, this testing is just for fun :).
Thanks for all the great comments, letters, cards, and emails, like Dad said. I try to read them to her (and the blog in general) when I can- I was going to do some good reading tonight, but they kept me quite busy- might recruit Dayton to do it tomorrow night.