Outrageous Malfunction

Thursday, June 12, 2008 11:10:03 PM:

This was anther believable day. Trudi was moved, again, this morning. She was upgraded to medically stable. My gosh, the woman is totally remarkable. I see it more and more, each day, God’s miracles at work. With your prayer and love, she is healing and recovering at a record pace. She told me that Jesus saved her, and I cried, totally lost it with joy, and she rubbed my face, and smiled. I have tears as I write these words. I’m filled with such happiness and love, it over flows from deep within. We were souls, together, one with God, at that moment.

Well, after that, I’m ready to write. I had to let you know how I’m feeling about Trudi and the revelations being revealed to us. Our morning started with speech therapy, for more swallowing tests. She ate a graham cracker and drank some blue water, and passed the test. Nothing blue when she suctioned Trudi’s wind pipe. Tomorrow, she starts on real food, granted, it will be like pudding, but will be easy to swallow. And she will drink from a cup or with a spoon, at first. Trudi is ready to have food pass her lips. It’s been over a month since she’s had solid food. As she would say, “My gosh”.

She had the talking valve on and was talking all day. She talks about everything, even talks about making a list of things to do when she gets home. She says she’s ready to leave. She asks me to take her home, and I have to say she’s not ready, there’s no bone on your head. She isn’t quite sure about the seriousness of how vulnerable her brain is, at this time. I mean, no bone on the right skull, just the scalp over the brain. I’d say that’s pretty delicate.

After lunch, OT came in to put her into a wheel chair for a trip out of her room. I am going, wow, way to go, and thought is was great thing to do with her. She sits on the side of the bed for a few minutes before getting up. As she is put into the wheel chair, he gets her to put some weight on her right leg, then her left. She put some weight on her right leg and he helped her pivot, to sit in the chair. After getting situated in the wheel chair, he pushes her out of the room and into the hallway.

I’m walking beside them as we go down the hallway. He asked her to wheel herself and steer with her feet. She wheels her self with her right hand, but goes to the left, and it’s quite getting the steering part down, yet. It is so much more than laying in a bed for a month. He stood a tall mirror in the hallway, in front of her so she could wheel to herself. With assistance, she was seeing herself in the mirror. This was the first time she has seen herself in over a month, too. She liked the helmet.

After the mirror, we went into the occupational therapy room and he put the mirror right in front of her so she could touch it. There where multicolored blocks with Velcro on them, stuck to the frame of the mirror. He asked her to take a certain colored block and put it in my hand. I was sitting to her left. Focusing on her left side helps her realize that she has a left side. With right brain damage, the left doesn’t exist. She was able to discriminate colors, but had difficulty locating the object with her hand, she was off, to the left, by about three inches, and had to go right, in order to grasp the block. Making her put it in my hand, had her shift focus from right to left. I would have my hand a little higher or lower in order for her to have to find it. Practice makes perfect, as my old band director would say.

After that activity, she went back to her room and sit with me for another 40 minutes. This is my time with her. I can sit next to her, put my arm around her, and tell her I love her, and hold her close to me. After about 40 minutes, the therapist came back to put her into bed. It was a different therapist than the first one. His name was Shawn, same as my son’s name. Maybe that will help Trudi remember his name. He got her to her feet and asked her to put weight on her right leg. She did, and then, as I kept her left leg straight, asked her to put weight on her left leg. He leaned her to the left so she would have to put weight on her left leg, and she did, just the slightest, but she did it. He sat her on the edge of the bed. He asked her if she would like to stand, one more time, and she said yes.

She stood and had most of her weight on her right leg. The therapist looked at me and almost held up his hands, as she took most of her own weight. She is such a brave a courageous woman. The therapist asked her to pivot so she could get back into bed. He nudged her right foot and she did it, she was able to pivot, and that’s a huge step. I’m looking forward to what she will do tomorrow. Praise God, to Whom goes all the Glory.

I just have to get through the night. I call the nurse to make certain Trudi is okay and that I’ve expressed my concerns about her head, to all of them. I put two more signs up on the walls in her room, Mo Bone Flap on Her Right Head. Can’t miss them.

What a day! I am blessed, and…

May God Bless You All.

Bob