Monday July 23

Our simple jaunt to the medical center for the MRI turned into a half day event when after doing very little for the doctor during a pre-MRI examination, Donna decided she was ready to move and be active during the MRI.  As most of you probably know, this doesn't work.  After several attempts and considerable time, they finally decided that in order to get the MRI they would have to give her a mild sedative.  All went well after that.  Personally I think she was trying to buy time out on the town and away from the hospital.  Results will take some time. Many thanks to my good friend Michelle who has patiently kept me company on these trips to the medical center. Her company really does steady me. The most popular question we get is "is she still in a coma?".  I know all these small movements make that confusing.  I spoke on this issue with the neurologist this morning and his answer was that below a coma score of 8 she is in a deep coma, above that she is still in coma.  This is good to hear as it preserves the hope in our minds that a material wake up could result in step change improvement.  We'll see.   She hovers between 8-9.  My brother John left today, my parents are on site and remain in our support and Sarah and Nate are about a week away from visiting.  The change is good for us.  Everyone has been so helpful.  John and Sarah remain deeply involved and it wears on us all but we take strength from each other and are still serving as a solid support team for Donna. Words from Donna continue sporadically, still fragmented and mostly math but we occasionally hear a different word.  Her favorite and clearest is "ouch".  It comes across loud and clear. I was talking with John this morning and I said to him wouldn't it be great if God could give us a sign that all is well and in his hands.  Then we had a good chuckle because we could imagine a time in the future when asked he would tell us "well, I sent you four nurses named Blessing, Joy, Mercy and Grace.  What more did you expect?". Those are some of our nurses. I guess we should just get it. I hold her close and she smells like Donna.  Sweet,   Bob