Monday, February 2, 2009

Today was another big day for Christy!  She must have got a good rest, because she was able to concentrate hard today.  Christy hasn't been smiling the last few days, but she was at it again today!  And it seems as if she's understanding the conversation because its appropriate to Donald cracking jokes!  I am bummed though, because I haven't gotten a chance to see her smile.  Christy is moving less violently.  She isn't as wild as she once was.  She still kicks her legs, but tonight she was favoring the left side. Usually she always has her legs on the right side.  

Christy's biggest thing today is that she is tracking more and more consistent.  I'm sure it takes a lot of energy and strength to try to focus and concentrate on us.  And we're all trying to let her rest as much as possible, but when she is awake, we all want to talk to her too.  She has power naps where she'll sleep deeply for a couple hours, then she'll be up again.  We hope that her sleep - wake cycles are normalizing.  They seem to be more reasonable time amounts.  Instead of her being constantly awake for one and a half days, she's sleeping and waking in a more normal pattern.  We are also becoming more aware of keeping it light during the day and dark during the night.  Today when the nurses aids came in to take her blood pressure and give her a bath, they got excited because she immediately turned to them and focused on them when they spoke to her to explain what they were in the room to do.  They were able to witness the alertness she was showing today.  There are still times where she is looking around and kicking her legs and flexing and moving her arms, but she's having longer periods of focusing and paying attention to people talking to her.  Her cousin Trani and her friend Kai was able to talk with her and see her more alert, too! It's really exciting.  It started slowly and is becoming more and more noticeable!

Donald is doing a wonderful job of loving Christy back to health.  She would be so incredibly proud of all he's doing.  He reads to her all day, talks to her, kisses her and gives her all is good love to heal with.  And Christy is coming around more and more every day.  The kids were all able to come and see mom today!! Christy loves hearing their voices and getting their sweet kisses! 

She also got her casts on today.  I was surprised that they actually look like casts on the legs---just like when you break your leg!  They are actually much softer than those casts, though.  The inside is all soft cotton-like material and there is only one layer of hard plaster on the outermost layer.  She has them on both legs and they look like the one in the picture.  She is still able to lift them over the side rails!!! Girl is strong!! It's good that she's exercising- she's starting her rehab!  I haven't mentioned it, but her facial twitch that she had so long is almost totally absent.  She has a rare occasion where she has a slight twitch but good reddens!  Christy's anti-convulsant medications have been switched around too, so hopefully they found the one her body responds the best to.  We need to control those seizures but not put her into too deep a sleep state!  

OK, Christy, we're ready when you are! So sleep up and collect all your energy to slip into full consciousness!!! Love you!