Eating Solid Foods & Update on Condition

Katy was up in her chair when I came in Monday morning. She smiled and said, "Hi Mom." She had a good night; she had gotten up twice to use the bathroom and slept well. We went outside to the patio and were there a few minutes before she started asking for water. 

We started Katy on some foods and drink Monday. She ate some applesauce, lemon yogurt and butterscotch pudding, and of course, orange juice. We are going to start giving chocolate milk and she'll get to cut down on her tube feedings so eventually we'll be done with that which will make EVERYBODY involved happy.

Katy got to visit with her sisters and grandma Sunday and her dad and brother Monday. 

Katy was confused Monday night. I put blankets on and taken them off at least a thousand times.  Sometimes she wakes up and it seems she feels the dream was reality. Before I had started The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, I had started reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins to her. She had seen the movie so I thought it might be a good one to read but later on she asked me to make sure her name was taken out of the drawing and I knew exactly what she was talking about. 

As far as TV goes, she's only allowed 10-15 minutes at a time. She really doesn't pay attention that long anyway. I think 5 minutes is tops.

Katy was put on full menu Tuesday! She is doing so well with her eating and drinking. We just have to be careful to go slow. So now she won't have to worry about tube feeding during the day and they'll watch calories so when she's getting enough, they get rid of tube feedings altogether and we can get rid of the stomach tube. Oh happy day!!!

Katy's schedule is such that she eats breakfast as soon as she wakes up, then has a full morning of rehab therapy, rests for a little bit then eats lunch, spends her afternoon with another bout of rehab therapy, rests again then wakes up for dinner. After that she gets a story, maybe 10-15 minutes of TV then goes to bed for the night. She gets extremely tired because even eating takes a long time and everything she does is exhausting. She asks to lie down many times during rehab sessions.

Her general condition now is that physically, she's walking with the help of two people, slowly and a little jerkily, with her right foot turned out. Hopefully that will straighten with time. Her only scars are one under her hair that won't show, and a slight scrape on the shoulder she fractured. I'm sure they will make sure her liver and spleen healed correctly and she's shown no signs of anything contrary. I believe she will just live with the one adrenal gland; I don't think the other one would have healed but we'll find out.

Mentally, she is starting to remember her rehab people that come most often, her family, and a few others who have come to sit with her, as well as pictures of people. She does not remember graduating or her graduation party at my house. She says she knows that she went to UW Marathon this last year.

She knows that she was in an accident from what they have told her but doesn't know the she on the way back to swim at the lake the day of the accident. She knows she has a brain injury. Her humor is very good but she also lost her "sensor" of what is appropriate to say. She does not swear and cuss like most people who go through this injury; instead she counts :-) which I'm sure is no surprise to anybody. Now she has stopped counting for the most part and doesn't bite people anymore. Her bite was involuntary, not in anger. She tells "jokes" to the staff and tells them they're beautiful or wonderful and is very responsive and polite. She asks hundreds of questions.

I know so many people want to visit but for Katy's sake (and we really appreciate the patience of everyone) we still need to keep it to a minimum. She is so busy all day and so exhausted that the other day when she had a visit, she was too tired to eat her dinner, and we are trying so hard to turn that around so she can get out of here. When she does, or is able to handle the rehab and stay a little more energetic, we'll have people down one a day while she eats her dinner.