Wonderful Wednesday

Today Mom has been talking quite a bit. She is quite restless and keeps saying "Oh my gosh," and "I've got to get out of this mode." When we ask what mode she means, she just says, "I don't know, I just don't know." When we ask if she is in pain she gives us a very firm "No," despite the fact that she acts as if it is really hurting. But she recognizes us, calls us by name and answers our questions. She also turns her head and looks at us while we are talking. We can see her personality today in her responses and actions.

The doctors are quite amazed at her progress. Our neuro specialist told us today that bad stroke cases sometimes have to be on a ventilator for a month, so the fact that she got it out on the seventh day is remarkable. He also told us that the fact we have seen such rapid progress is quite unusual and that this trend of early recovery is very encouraging. He said that her progress to date is due to the brain actually repairing itself and not as a result of decreased swelling. We were really excited!

We are having trouble with the continuous passive motion machine. It doesn't really fit on the bed without being jammed up too tightly against her thigh, but if we take the footboard off to give it more room the machine keeps working its way off the end of the bed. So, Dad and

Jim Jr. engineered a strap out of some twill tape (which they normally use to keep the ventilator tube in place) and solved the problem. They actually tied the machine to the bed in two places to prevent it from moving. Our sweet nurse said she might have to hire us! Her name is Diane too, so we told Mom she has a nurse Diane as well as a daughter Diane. That brought a smile to her face.