Fast Sunday

Later yesterday afternoon, the occupational therapists 'picked up' mom under the shoulders from the back and they rotated her around, lowered the bed and placed her in a sitting position at the foot of the bed and began trying to hasten the 'wake-up' process from the coma she has been in the last 6 days. She opened her eyes and stared forward, in a way she hasn't done since Post Op Recovery. Very encouraging minutes!

The nurses are so patient and facilitating, working her limbs, planting her feet flat on the floor and had her sitting up (with assistance). They stimulated her hands and put her in a weight-bearing position, having her lean on them on the edge of the bed. She started to twitch and rotate her feet, ankles and legs on the ground. Some 20 minutes of this had us cheering her on and not wanting all this to stop! It also appeared she rotated her upper arms.

After putting her back in bed, and placing her legs on the CPM (continual passive movement/motion) machine (which keeps her knees from scarring and getting her knees to become bendable and flexible), she became somewhat restless. So, this is a positive sign she can arouse from this crazy coma...

We are measuring the progress in tiny, but gratifying steps. The objective is to get the ventilator removed. With it, time is our enemy because of the risk of infection (and pneumonia). On the other hand taking it out would allow her to aspirate fluid into her lungs where it would fester and have the same result. So getting her conscious and 'protecting her airway' is the immediate goal. Keeping her slight fever in check with a stream of antibiotics is a priority as well. This is a delicate procedure because she is having a hard time with coughing and the irritation caused by the ventilator crammed down her throat. Then they have to siphon the fluid out of her lungs every so often and that action evokes a most painful grimace and writhing of her head back and forth for a few seconds. Ouch!

Today, the Occupational Therapists repeated their procedure and stimulated mom some more. She opened her eyes for sustained periods of time and peered forward, but not responsive to light or movement at this point. She seems to respond a bit to commands after repeating and assisting her to respond to the command. We are working on saying no or yes by moving your head accordingly.

So that is the current state of things. Every day raises the bar just a bit.

Many visitors have buoyed us up and sustained us this Fast Sunday. We are grateful for your heartfelt prayers and petitions on her/our behalf. We are also very mindful of the Lord's hand in this process.