Sorry for the late update – yesterday I was at work all day and then I flew back to Jacksonville last night, so now is the first chance I’m having to update.

Yesterday they removed the feeding tube and she started eating some real food (though when we ask her how her food was, the answer is often “yuck”).  Today they did a minor surgical procedure to remove the filter near her heart (to break up blood clots) that they had put in previously, and once she was finished with that she wanted a Coke so bad!  She’s been doing very well with food so far.

Before she went into the surgery, she had a visit from both the physical therapist and the speech therapist.  With the help of a walker and two physical therapist, she was actually able to walk halfway down the long hallway outside of her room, and her steps are getting more confident.  After that, the speech therapist showed her some cards and asked her to read them, which she did very well.  They asked her some questions and math problems, and she answered most of them correctly.  Then they asked her to write some things, including her own name.  While the handwriting is no where near her regular handwriting, she was able to write all the letters for both her first and last name just fine!

She’s resting a bit now, but she hasn’t really slept any during the day today, and she’s talking a lot more.  She’s saying some sentences, but mostly she’s still just saying words and phrases.  She’s starting to show more interest and wanting things, so that’s great!