Day 2 Update

Hello friends & family, 

Sorry for the delay in getting an update posted on Mom's condition. It's been a very busy day for Mom with lots of Doctors and Therapists coming to her ICU room. 

First of all, she continues to be very awake and alert and is constantly working to communicate with us through her alphabet board and hand signals. She has been so active that we are begging her to close her eyes and rest, but we think her brain is on overdrive. 

Dr. Kim was in to see her at 10am and again this afternoon and he continues to be thrilled with her recovery to this point. He mentioned to our Dad this morning that he wanted to get physical and occupational therapy started and within ten minutes of him leaving the room the PT and OT therapists came rushing in to start working with Mom. I guess when the boss of the Neuroscience Institute gives an order the staff tends to jump. It's sort of been like this all day. We have also been visited by several rehab Doctors, the speech therapist's and the entire Neuro team as well as administrative staff of the Institute.

Mom was taken off the ventilator last night and she has been breathing fine on her own all day. One of our biggest concerns was her lung capacity and so far she is doing quite well breathing through the new trach. It will probably remain in for a while until she gets more stable. Also the nurses removed her catheter a short while ago and she was able to go on her own with no problem. All good signs!

Throughout the day we have enjoyed getting reacquainted with the Doctors and staff here at the Neuroscience ICU. We spent three weeks here two years ago and everyone is very excited to see how Cathy has responded to this major brain surgery. 

At this point, Dr Kim is thinking that he would like to have Mom moved to the TIRR rehab hospital early next week for an intensive effort to try to get back to where she was in the recovery process about a year and a half ago. The hopes are that with the brainstem malformations removed, she can now make some real progress towards improvement and independence. It is still very early to reach any conclusions, but everyone involved has optimism that things will go better this time around. 

The last two years have been an amazing and frustrating journey and everyone involved with Mom is exhausted, but we have much hard work ahead and will continue to need the prayers and support that everyone has provided to our family. For this we are extremely grateful and feel very blessed. 

Thank you for all the texts, calls and friendly visits today! That's exactly what we needed! 

Our favorite ICU Dr., Dr. Lee

Texas Medical Center

Mom's youngest Prayer Warrior, Austin! 

Mom working hard in rehabilitation on day 2!! Unbelievable!! We are sooo proud! (We waited 2 long months to see this progress last time!)