June 29 Update

Well today was a day of recovery and decisions.

Donna had a great health day shaking off the low grade fever she had yesterday, stabilizing all of her health measurements and looking so much more relaxed and better.  The negative impacts of her surgery are disappearing, she again looks good.  Hence the hospital was ready for us to make a decision about where she goes next after she leaves Ortho trauma .  The hospital has done a great job of getting all of the Donna's parts, that they can directly influence, well.  She no longer fits the needs profile of a short term acute facility.  She also does not quite meet the requirements of a full scale rehabilitation facility as she remains unconscious with two extremities (her arm and lower left side) that while fixed are not really ready for action.  As such, we spent the better part of the last 24 hours touring and evaluating facilities.  This is hard work that I hope none of you ever have to experience but I can say that we approached it the way Donna would (tirelessly and thoroughly).

After much deliberation John, Sarah and I agreed on our top choice and we await confirmation (hopefully Monday) that this outcome is doable.  If so, the next move may be out of the Medical Center and likely will cause us to alter our plans for a Med Center apartment, at least for now.  Subsequent rehab, if necessary, may bring us back there.  Donna's move could happen as soon as Monday.  This decision process made me realize how the last 2 weeks have been hard but that the pain had been lessened by the quality medical professionals making all of the decisions regarding her care. We are most grateful for them.  Those that have helped us in this subsequent decision effort we can never thank enough.

Our forward hopes are for a quiet weekend of expanding Donna's physical health and who knows, maybe more (please Lord).  Donna has made a few new subtle movements and we optimistically hope these are precursors but we have been informed by the neurological team what constitutes real step change and we probably won't say too much till we get there.  I must say that today during "music therapy time with Bob" (this is when I play her some of our favorite music)  she was really into it as only I can tell.

On closing, I want to thank you all for the many notes, voicemails, visits and other forms of encouragement that we have received in such abundance.  The vast majority of these have gone unanswered in a direct way out of necessity, but rest assured that they have all gotten through, they lift us up and they remind us how blessed we are in times of difficulty.   I will never be able to thank you all but you are all angels on our shoulders.  I have often said that the Lord doesn't give us challenges we can't handle.  I think the proper version of that phrase should be "the Lord doesn't give us challenges we can't handle with the support of others"

Have a great weekend, and hug your spouse and children.  I am.

Deepest regards,
Bob