Diva
Hi dear friends,
Today was a good day both for me and for mom - I can't complain. It started out with getting my iPod to work and loading up lots of Yo-Yo Ma and Mozart and good relaxing stuff for mom to listen to. Jillian came over after her hospital orientation stuff, and helped by unpacking some boxes of books to put on the bookshelf, so I think we've got two boxes down. Better than none! Then we headed over to the hospital to meet up with Leah N, Susy J and Pam for lunch. I went up to start the music playing for her, and I hope she was enjoying it! She looked great as usual, very beautiful and hardy and alive. I love that. We snuck out for lunch across the street, and sat outside on this Indian summer day. Gorgeous, and good conversation.
Then Pam and Jillian and I headed back over to the hospital for our important task. You see, Pam had made a trip to Target to get some decorations for this helmet of hers, and we showed each thing to mom to see if we got any reactions. She definitely looked at everything, but we couldn't really tell whether she had any preferences, so we took artistic liberty. The first thing placed was a sticker which says "Diva" directly on the front of the helmet, and it is surrounded on either end by pink sparkly jewels. She has little pearls in two alternating sizes trimming the front edge of the helmet, two pink flowers (one on each side), a butterfly on the strap, and other jewels placed in strategic places. At the top near the hole that is in the right side, in silver glitter glue, is written her signature word "Damnit." All in all, it's very stylish and MUCH more fun than when it was plain. She'd approve, I'm sure, if she could see it. Everyone who comes into the room comments on the great decorations, so thanks to Pam and Jillian for helping to beautify the helmet. :)
Today her trauma fellow removed the staples from her abdominal incision (where her bone flap is) and her head. Mom didn't like that so much, because it does pinch a bit, but we were able to keep her fairly calm and still, and it was over quick. Everything seems to be healing up pretty well, only the gash on the back right side of her head that they stitched up in the ER when she first arrived looks a little nasty. But now that the staples are out and the hair is shaved off, it will be able to heal up better.
Overall, today was another active day for her in terms of moving around in the bed. Her eyes now when she is awake are wide open (both of them), and she really looks around the room and tracks with her eyes. She is still grabbing at me when I stand beside her left side, and today she put her hand on my hip, snaked her fingers and hand around to my back, and then slowly made her way down with her hand until she was grabbing my ass!! It was absolutely hilarious, and we all got quite a laugh out of that. Then her hand travelled back around front and was exploring the underwire of my bra...I told her I'd let it go this time, but next time I was going to make her follow the rules of conduct. ;)
Later in the afternoon, one of mom's best friends Loyce was able to come and visit her, fresh in from London! I think it was so good for mom to have another loved one come to see her, and also good for Loyce to be able to talk to her and see her and just make it real for her. I suspect for all you friends who are far away and unable to be here to see mom, it seems very surreal for you and maybe harder to believe. I'm sorry for this, because being far away is hard I know. I hope my accounts of the days help to keep you close in that way.
After a nice dinner with Lilly, Dave, Candy, Pam and little Madison during which I got more therepeutic baby time with that cutie pie, Lilly and I headed back over to the hospital to say goodnight. I only ever plan to spend a short amount of time saying goodnight, and then the next thing I know I've been there for over an hour and it's later than I wanted to go to bed. I just can't seem to tear myself away from her. Lilly hadn't seen mom in a few days, so the changes she observed were quite dramatic and warmed her heart. Mom tends to look around with her eyes more than blink, so when Lilly told her this and expressed a wish she would blink more, mom totally winked as though she'd been appeasing Lilly. :) It was very cute. And later, Lilly challenged mom to a thumb war, which she did seem to be participating in and even won! :)
Never a dull moment, let me tell you. She keeps us on our toes, and we'll do the same for her. No news today yet about her post-discharge destination, so perhaps tomorrow we'll know more, and of course I will keep all of you posted. In the meantime, PLEASE continue to pray for RIC and for that lovely head to heal more everyday. I know you will. Thank you. Much love to you all.
Today was a good day both for me and for mom - I can't complain. It started out with getting my iPod to work and loading up lots of Yo-Yo Ma and Mozart and good relaxing stuff for mom to listen to. Jillian came over after her hospital orientation stuff, and helped by unpacking some boxes of books to put on the bookshelf, so I think we've got two boxes down. Better than none! Then we headed over to the hospital to meet up with Leah N, Susy J and Pam for lunch. I went up to start the music playing for her, and I hope she was enjoying it! She looked great as usual, very beautiful and hardy and alive. I love that. We snuck out for lunch across the street, and sat outside on this Indian summer day. Gorgeous, and good conversation.
Then Pam and Jillian and I headed back over to the hospital for our important task. You see, Pam had made a trip to Target to get some decorations for this helmet of hers, and we showed each thing to mom to see if we got any reactions. She definitely looked at everything, but we couldn't really tell whether she had any preferences, so we took artistic liberty. The first thing placed was a sticker which says "Diva" directly on the front of the helmet, and it is surrounded on either end by pink sparkly jewels. She has little pearls in two alternating sizes trimming the front edge of the helmet, two pink flowers (one on each side), a butterfly on the strap, and other jewels placed in strategic places. At the top near the hole that is in the right side, in silver glitter glue, is written her signature word "Damnit." All in all, it's very stylish and MUCH more fun than when it was plain. She'd approve, I'm sure, if she could see it. Everyone who comes into the room comments on the great decorations, so thanks to Pam and Jillian for helping to beautify the helmet. :)
Today her trauma fellow removed the staples from her abdominal incision (where her bone flap is) and her head. Mom didn't like that so much, because it does pinch a bit, but we were able to keep her fairly calm and still, and it was over quick. Everything seems to be healing up pretty well, only the gash on the back right side of her head that they stitched up in the ER when she first arrived looks a little nasty. But now that the staples are out and the hair is shaved off, it will be able to heal up better.
Overall, today was another active day for her in terms of moving around in the bed. Her eyes now when she is awake are wide open (both of them), and she really looks around the room and tracks with her eyes. She is still grabbing at me when I stand beside her left side, and today she put her hand on my hip, snaked her fingers and hand around to my back, and then slowly made her way down with her hand until she was grabbing my ass!! It was absolutely hilarious, and we all got quite a laugh out of that. Then her hand travelled back around front and was exploring the underwire of my bra...I told her I'd let it go this time, but next time I was going to make her follow the rules of conduct. ;)
Later in the afternoon, one of mom's best friends Loyce was able to come and visit her, fresh in from London! I think it was so good for mom to have another loved one come to see her, and also good for Loyce to be able to talk to her and see her and just make it real for her. I suspect for all you friends who are far away and unable to be here to see mom, it seems very surreal for you and maybe harder to believe. I'm sorry for this, because being far away is hard I know. I hope my accounts of the days help to keep you close in that way.
After a nice dinner with Lilly, Dave, Candy, Pam and little Madison during which I got more therepeutic baby time with that cutie pie, Lilly and I headed back over to the hospital to say goodnight. I only ever plan to spend a short amount of time saying goodnight, and then the next thing I know I've been there for over an hour and it's later than I wanted to go to bed. I just can't seem to tear myself away from her. Lilly hadn't seen mom in a few days, so the changes she observed were quite dramatic and warmed her heart. Mom tends to look around with her eyes more than blink, so when Lilly told her this and expressed a wish she would blink more, mom totally winked as though she'd been appeasing Lilly. :) It was very cute. And later, Lilly challenged mom to a thumb war, which she did seem to be participating in and even won! :)
Never a dull moment, let me tell you. She keeps us on our toes, and we'll do the same for her. No news today yet about her post-discharge destination, so perhaps tomorrow we'll know more, and of course I will keep all of you posted. In the meantime, PLEASE continue to pray for RIC and for that lovely head to heal more everyday. I know you will. Thank you. Much love to you all.
Comments
I am glad I could spend time with you yesterday and help decorate Bev's helmet:)I hope today is a good day and I will talk to you soon!
Love, Jillian
It sounds like your mom continues to make progress which is great! It also sounds like she is rocking quite a stylish helmet....I'm sure she appreciated the decoration :)
Continued love and support!
Jennie