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!

Mama had a restless night last night.  As her body becomes more aware, she is now realizing that she can’t find a good position in her bed, the leg massagers that help prevent blood clots are uncomfortable, etc.  We’re so happy that her body is waking up all over, but we hate for her to be so agitated, and I know that she is feeling frustrated.

She’s really enjoying ice chips and yogurt right now.  When I spoke with Daddy earlier he said that she was sitting in a chair, and they were going to be trying to get her to walk a bit more today.  Her room is the last one on the hallway, and there’s a large window at the end of the hallway, so the goal today was to help her walk out of her room and down to the window.

As she’s starting to become more alert, she’s also a lot more aware of where she is and what is going on.  Today she told both Bo and Daddy that she’s scared, so our newest challenge is trying to reassure her that she’s getting better and making great progress, so she doesn’t need to be afraid.  Please pray not only for her continued progress but also for her to find some confidence in her abilities and some peace about her recovery.  She’s doing so well and the doctors have been pleased every day.

It was a productive and busy morning.  Early morning Debbie was moved to a chair in order for her to sit up more and to offer a change from the bed.  She liked that.  She was tested for her ability to swallow and can now be given ice chips and we can begin introducing light foods.  The feeding tube will remain in place for at least a couple more days.  Occupational therapy worked with her for muscle tone and exercise.  We will continue with the exercises throughout the days.  Physical therapy came later in the morning, and with their assistance she took about seven small steps.  They were very pleased with her progress.  Debbie’s voice has improved slightly but still can only put together a few words at a time.

Your prayers are being answered and are much appreciated by Debbie and our family. She is aware of your thoughts and prayers.

Mama was quiet for the majority of the day, with lots of resting and sleep.  The neurosurgeon reviewed the cat scan results with Bo and Daddy, and it shows signs of improvement.  The doctors are still encouraged by her progress.  Today her voice has been slowly getting stronger.  She’s still just saying words and short phrases, but she’s getting a little better about speaking louder.

Yesterday was a good day, but a rough day.  With her off the ventilator, she was able to communicate with us a little bit – if we held our ear really close to her mouth we could hear “hot,” “water,” and “get the nurse.”  However, she did get a bit overstimulated yesterday.  She was fairly restless and agitated which is both good and bad.  It’s good in that her body is waking up more, she’s becoming more alert, and she’s moving around some.  It’s bad because she’s frustrated and scared, and the agitation made her heart rate and blood pressure get a little higher than we would like.

Today has been much calmer.  She’s slept a lot of the day which has been good for her, and she doesn’t seem nearly as restless as she was yesterday.  They took her down for another cat scan just to see how she’s progressing, so hopefully we’ll have those results this evening.

She got her first visit from the speech therapist today, and she’s doing well.  She was able to say the days of the week for us, though it’s still really really quiet.  The speech therapist also evaluates Mama for swallowing.  Yesterday the nurse gave her an ice chip because she really wanted water badly, but she didn’t do so well with it (which was to be expected).  The speech therapist tried again today and Mama did a lot better, but still not quite well enough to get the OK for regular ice chips.  We’ll try again tomorrow and see how she does.  We’re encouraging her to use her voice to get her strength back up.

We also told her a little bit about why she’s here.  She knows that she fell and hit her head and had to have some surgery, but that everything went really well and that the doctors have nothing but good things to say about her progress.  We don’t want to focus on that too much, but we also didn’t want her to feel anxious about being in the hospital without knowing why she is here.

Mama slept well throughout the night, and this morning the doctors decided to remove her ventilator! She was awake and answering some questions this morning by squeezing our fingers and nodding her head, and ever since they removed the tube she’s been sleeping. She still has not spoken. The occupational therapist said that her muscles are starting to get a little stiff, so we’ll be doing some new exercises with her this afternoon.