Friday July 13

Donna continues her healthy physical condition.  Her major excitement for the day was a session with the therapy folks that included about 40 min on the side of the bed and about 2.5 hours up in the neuro chair.    She usually surprises us with a new action or two.  Today one of those was an infatuation with her trach.  This is not a good infatuation and necessitates a mitten we put on her hand at times we aren’t watching her to ensure she can’t grab and pull it out.  Like many other things we have experienced, even this has a silver lining. Her pulmonologist told us tonight that this is another good reason to get her trach downsized quickly.  He is planning the next step in the process for Monday or Tuesday.  For those not familiar here, this has already saved her about a week of post awakening transition with more coming.

Her other new gesture for the day had to do with her hair.  John and I had decided that Saturday was going to be hair wash day and we were going to try and duplicate anything that resembled the French braid Sarah had put it in last week.  Well when a nurse afforded us a convenient opportunity to get it done today, we dove right in.  As I was drying and combing her hair, twice part of it fell across the front of her face and each time she reached up and moved it.  Good to see.  The funniest part of this story came later when I proved a total incompetency in the braid department and John invoked a distant memory of his sister showing him and took a reasonable shot.  We all laughed and smiled so hard.  Donna would have been the most entertained so we saved her a photo or two. Thankfully, knowledgeable hands repaired our substandard work later on (thank you Alicia)

I should probably say something about consciousness to help clear something up.  Most of us assume a person is either out cold or awake.  In reality we know that isn’t the case as people walk and talk in their sleep.  This is how Donna grows in gestures while still in a low conscious stage and how she can actually provide some contribution to therapy while there also.  We are waiting for a few key milestones before we can really feel she is waking.  Many of her gestures are reflex but a few are not.  Our doctors help us understand the difference.  We savor them all though.  We will definitely let people know when she reaches a milestone.  For now lets just say the prognosis that calls for patience continues to play out.  As my learned patience grows, I suspect few of you will recognize me.  I guess the price of personal improvement

Thanks for all of the support and prayers.  We continue to place our faith in God and Donna as we settle into a scenario we can long sustain.

Bob