Day 12... really?

Wow. Day 12 already. Very hard to believe.

Today wasn't marked by much movement. Mom remains stable on the ventilator. The swelling in her legs is continuing to go down. I put a call in to her orthopedic surgeon today to see if they might be able to go ahead with the remaining surgeries (right ankle, left foot) soon, since the swelling is going down. The original plan was to complete all surgeries and remove the vent post-surgery once and for all, so I'm wondering if they can go back to that plan, since she's not quite ready to have the vent removed, due to some remaining congestion in her lungs.

When Geoff and I visited mom this morning, she was awake and alert. We have learned that it's best for us to be mellow and to just stand next to her bed, holding her hand or stroking her forehead. We've been missing talking to her so much that we run in there telling her all the day's news when she's awake, which can tend to agitate her (I'm assuming b/c she can't yak it up with us). It's been working out a lot better to just whisper to her that she's doing great and that we love her and to allow her to remain calm. Anyway, this morning, she was moving her legs from side to side on her own, which we hadn't seen her do before. She was just rocking them back and forth, as if she had just realized that she can control them. It was nice to see some self-generated movement from her.

We went back to see her this afternoon and she was sleeping. We'll go back again before visiting hours are over today.

I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone for all of the support. The e-mails, phone calls, posts to the blog, monetary donations, etc. are all so appreciated and encourage us to keep moving forward.

We're learning a lot of stuff that we never cared to know about, but we want to be sure we are educated about all that is happening with Mom. There are so many facets to this ordeal - from health care, to insurance, to felony convictions and preliminary hearings. It's a lot to deal with.

Anyway, thanks again for all of the support. We are so fortunate to be loved and cared for by such amazing family and friends.

It's Geoff's turn to do the next update, so watch for it tonight or tomorrow.