It looks like I have gone to weekly postings. It has been a busy, happy holiday with all the family here. I am enjoying spending as much time as possible with my husband while he is home. Perhaps I can get back into the swing of keeping you up to date next week after he goes back to Atlanta. It may actually be the week after because Steve has a lot of plans for next week before he goes back to school.
On Tuesday, the family took the trek to Mount Vernon to sing Christmas carols to Bernadette and Stephanie. They are still concerned about her being over stimulated, so we could only go in two at at time. David was particularly disappointed because no one under 12 was allowed in. So Steve took him down to the car to work on the video game Steve is writing. Honnah ducked out to the waiting area to finish making arrangements for meeting with her friends later in the day.
When we arrived, Stephanie was eating. Eating?!! Yes, indeed, she now can eat solid food. They finally did the swallow test and she passed with flying colors. It won't be long now until they pull the feeding tube. Another right of passage for a brain injured person. We often joke with Arif because they really resisted even doing the swallow test for him, so he was on a 72 day forced fast. It seems, 4 1/2 years later, he is still trying to make up for it. Back to Stephanie: I asked her what she had for dinner. At first she couldn't remember, but with Bernadette giving her a few hints, she mentioned a veal cutlet and Jello.
I sent Joe and Micah in first so that they could sing 'Away in a Manger' and 'Silent Night' to her. Bernadette said she seemed to enjoy it a great deal. It really lifted her spirits. No one had visited on Christmas Day, and they were feeling a bit left out.
We saw a great deal of improvement since the last time we visited. Stephanie is still moving around a great deal, but is nowhere near as agitated as she was. She sits in a 'regular' wheelchair. I asked her about her walking. She said that she walked a little but that she thought people looked at her and made fun of her when she did. We tried to assure her that anyone who saw her was rejoicing about how well she was doing. She apologized a number of times about her slurred speech. She is, in fact, speaking quite clearly. We had no trouble understanding everything she said.
Her neck was hurting, so I did a little massage on it. Then the nurse came in with a phone call from Buzz. so I took the opportunity to work on Bernadette's neck, too. -- partly so I could show her how to work with Stephanie, and partly because she had a LOT of tension built up, too.
Our visits were short because we did not want to tire Stephanie too much. As we headed downstairs, Steve met us with the news that he had locked the keys in the van. He ran the motor so they could recharge his lap top. We have been having battery problems, so everyone is reluctant to put demands on the battery. Micah sat in the driver's seat for a while, then turned the motor off, but left the keys in the ignition. Steve did not realize it, so when he got out of the van, he locked the doors to keep his laptop and Honnah's purse safe. Just as the final door closed, he noticed the keys.
The hospital called the Mount Vernon police who dispatched a friendly officer. In his six years on the force, there have only been 4 cars that he could not unlock. He pronounced that the Caravan is one of the easiest to break into. It would take no time at all. It was all very reassuring that our belongings were secure.
He slipped his slimjim into the door. It got stuck. Try as he might, it would not budge. He is the only officer on the force who carries a spare. So, out came the spare, and it slid into the other door. The lock just did not pop, even with several tries. So, back to the first one. It was still stuck solid. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle ... finally, little by little, it found its way out. Joe suggested that maybe the slimjim had performance anxiety. So he came in to tell us what was going on. Honnah returned with him to the scene. The officer was still struggling. Joe declared that Honnah was good luck. Sure enough, soon after they arrived, the door was finally opened.
We offered to bring Bernadette home. With the van so full, we did not want to do too much riding so we did not do the out to eat thing. Bernadette seems to be wearing down some. She looked tired. She is concerned about Stephanie's short term memory and her vision issues. Even though Stephanie has been told many times about the accident, she has several versions of her own. She reassures Bernadette that Buzz did not do this to her. Of course he did not know about it for almost a day. Another version has her getting shot. And there are endless renditions on the car scenario. The bottom line is thta Stephanie has no memory of the incident and is trying to fill in the blanks.
The other issue is that the impact of her fall was mostly on her face. Most of the bones in the face were broken. including those around the eyes. Aside from the injury to the brain in the visual area, there may be some damage to the eyes themselves. Soon she will be sent to a specialist in Springfield to assess the situation.
Bottom line: keep up those prayers. They have served well so far, but we have far to go.
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