Margaret surprises me. I got several “yes” and “no” answers today with quite a bit of hesitation between my question and her answer and then a news show came on TV this evening and I asked Margaret if she knew who the person was, and she responded, “that’s the newly elected conservative prime minister of Spain” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's our Margaret! Her left hand squeezed my hand today once. Wow - don't know if it was voluntary or involuntary but it still moved! One of Margaret's good friends from Georgetown sent this huge treasure box filled wih things and we've been bringing in something new every day. Today it was a battery operated toothbrush which Margaret really liked. Another good day.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wednesday, Dec. 7th
Margaret continues to get stronger. She's eating well. She's in a room with a shared TV with her roommate and although it's Spanish TV, Margaret is keeping her eyes open to watch the screen - it is entertaining to try and figure out what is going on! To the movie group, Margaret's request for a movie is Toy Story 3 - we hear that Buzz Lightyear has a Spanish button and that's how Margaret is going to be when she returns - she's picking up Spanish by osmosis! Forrest, thanks for the card. We received it today. It's good to get real mail so I would encourage anyone to send a card to the APO address in one of these first blogs. Mrs. Magnus, we heard about you from Jeremy and he must have showed us the picture of his classmates holding up their signs saying "We miss you Jeremy" at least 10 times. He obviously loves going to school and loves his teachers and classmates. I imagine you'll be seeing his new article of clothing today but I won't spoil the surprise here. When we spoke with the neurologist today about how Margaret is doing, he indicated that she is doing very well medically - that if she was a Spaniard, she would shortly be moving to a rehab facility or to home with visits to a rehab clinic. He didn't have the information he needed to determine when she could fly. But later in the day, Dr. P., the embassy doctor came by and gave the neurologist some information from the New England Journal of Medicine and he feels she can come home in 7-10 days. We hope the neurologist agrees when we see him again on Friday. Thursday again is a holiday so it's like things semi-stop at the hospital - no rehab exercises today, duty doctor on instead of neurologist - can be frustrating because I want things just to keep moving. Patience, patience..... Please pray for decisions to be made quickly and we have good communication with the travel insurance company so the details of Margaret's transfer back to the US proceed well. Thank you.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, Dec. 5th
Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Margaret moved from ICU to the stroke unit today. Hallelujah!!!!! Jeremy and Amelia got a chance to say hello and talk to her. She has more alert times and more tired times. It was a big day for her too. She had a lot to say with Kim and I this evening and smiled several times. She ate pureed carrots, pureed fish stew and flan without any difficulty. The neurologist needs to investigate the facts surrounding flying home and whether or not the change in airplane cabin pressure might present any issues. He hopes to have more information about that by the end of this week. So I was able to be with Margaret from about 11:30 until 9:00 tonight. I also want to tell you that I may not be able to keep up the blog every day since the hospital doesn't have wi-fi and I won't be getting home until late. Thank you again many times over for all the well-wishes that keep pouring in and all the prayers lifted up to heaven on her behalf.
Margaret moved from ICU to the stroke unit today. Hallelujah!!!!! Jeremy and Amelia got a chance to say hello and talk to her. She has more alert times and more tired times. It was a big day for her too. She had a lot to say with Kim and I this evening and smiled several times. She ate pureed carrots, pureed fish stew and flan without any difficulty. The neurologist needs to investigate the facts surrounding flying home and whether or not the change in airplane cabin pressure might present any issues. He hopes to have more information about that by the end of this week. So I was able to be with Margaret from about 11:30 until 9:00 tonight. I also want to tell you that I may not be able to keep up the blog every day since the hospital doesn't have wi-fi and I won't be getting home until late. Thank you again many times over for all the well-wishes that keep pouring in and all the prayers lifted up to heaven on her behalf.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sunday, Dec. 4th
A great day! Margaret's eyes were open, she was alert during our entire visits today and we had good conversation. She asked us a lot of questions about her health status today. She gave us our first smile today too! She's having a little difficulty with swallowing still and will be evaluated by a specialist tomorrow. Her children are here but have not been able to see her as she's still in the ICU. She's well enough to see them but they have strict rules here and although the ICU has private rooms, it is very open with glass walls so you can see the other critically ill patients and so they don't want children there. We're hoping they'll be able to move her tomorrow or Tuesday. We're looking forward to talking to her primary doctors tomorrow to hopefully get a better sense of when Margaret may be able to travel home.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Saturday, Dec. 3rd
Dear friends,
Margaret continues to make progress. She's able to swallow pills now with a little water. She wanted to make another phone call tonight. She's following our conversations and continues to contribute to them. She hasn't asked us for a notepad to write as she's able to speak what she wants to tell us. Please pray that she'll be able to move to a regular room on Monday. I think the more that we're able to be in the room with her, the faster she'll recover.
Margaret continues to make progress. She's able to swallow pills now with a little water. She wanted to make another phone call tonight. She's following our conversations and continues to contribute to them. She hasn't asked us for a notepad to write as she's able to speak what she wants to tell us. Please pray that she'll be able to move to a regular room on Monday. I think the more that we're able to be in the room with her, the faster she'll recover.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Friday, Dec. 2nd
Dear friends,
More good news to share with you today. Margaret is talking more and opening her eyes more. Kim and I do most of the talking and carry on a conversation about lots of things and Margaret will chime in every once in a while so she's following everything we're saying. She had her first taste of food since last Tuesday and she's swallowing well. The doctors are very encouraged by the progress she is making. Tomorrow she wants us to bring in a movie! It's midnight here now so making this short and sweet. Thanks for the comments that you're sending - it warms my heart to know how many caring friends Margaret has.
More good news to share with you today. Margaret is talking more and opening her eyes more. Kim and I do most of the talking and carry on a conversation about lots of things and Margaret will chime in every once in a while so she's following everything we're saying. She had her first taste of food since last Tuesday and she's swallowing well. The doctors are very encouraged by the progress she is making. Tomorrow she wants us to bring in a movie! It's midnight here now so making this short and sweet. Thanks for the comments that you're sending - it warms my heart to know how many caring friends Margaret has.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Thursday, Dec. 1st
Today was an amazing day.
When we came at 11:00, Margaret opened her eyes a little for a few seconds and said "hi" or something like that - I think we were so surprised we weren't prepared to listen! That was the only thing she said during our visit. Then the nurses came in and moved her from the bed to a chair so she could sit up better. She wanted to text her children so she wrote what she wanted to say on a notepad. Mind you, this is with her eyes closed so we just keep trying to move the paper as she's writing. She also wrote several more things she wanted to tell us.
When we came tonight at 6 PM, she was back in the chair again and she was talking to us! There was no need for the notepad.
She's getting stronger minute by minute, hour by hour.
Thank you Jesus and thank you for all your prayers!
When we came at 11:00, Margaret opened her eyes a little for a few seconds and said "hi" or something like that - I think we were so surprised we weren't prepared to listen! That was the only thing she said during our visit. Then the nurses came in and moved her from the bed to a chair so she could sit up better. She wanted to text her children so she wrote what she wanted to say on a notepad. Mind you, this is with her eyes closed so we just keep trying to move the paper as she's writing. She also wrote several more things she wanted to tell us.
When we came tonight at 6 PM, she was back in the chair again and she was talking to us! There was no need for the notepad.
She's getting stronger minute by minute, hour by hour.
Thank you Jesus and thank you for all your prayers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)