You can leave anytime...

I go to see Lisa, usually everyday around lunch to make sure she gets to eat in her room. She is not one to sit in the hallway and have people watch her eat, people she doesn't know, and people who tell her to keep eating. I don't want that for her either.

When I got there today, she was just getting out of the shower. The resident neuro came up to check out her shunt...you can see it on her skull. (Lisa had her 20 staples taken out yesterday, and the 15 or so from the side of her tummy) He explained that it is where the valve is and that it is completely normal for her to have that ridge there. The OT brought her back to the room and when she was about ready to leave, I could tell that Lisa wanted to hug her, so Rita leaned over and gave Lisa a hug, while Lisa was hugging her she said, "thank you for helping me." Rita looked at her and told her, "Lisa, I like working with you." Lisa replied, "I like working with you too." Sweet.

Yesterday, when we were there and she was eating quietly...the room was quiet, no one was talking, and Lisa piped up and looked at me, as I was sitting next to her and she said, "You can leave anytime Karla."
me: "what?"
Lisa, "you can leave anytime"
me "do you want me to leave?"
Lisa "NO, you can leave whenever you want, I just wanted to tell you!"
me "well, I want to stay here with you...is that OK?"
Lisa "that is fine."

As I sit here and think about that I can take it one of two ways...she either really wanted me to leave OR she didn't want me to be bored...I am thinkin' it was the latter, she is sensitive about others. I think that she just wanted to give me the OK to leave, because she would be fine. I'm not sure about that one though. LOL!

Today, she had therapy one right after the other in the AM and the PM...She was tired, you could tell because she gets her head to one side and it doesn't want to hold itself up. I kept trying to remind her to hold her head straight, she didn't complain, just said she was tired. I wanted her to get some rest and to sleep before her PM sessions, or she would be no good. So, I got her into bed, just her and I. Well, let me just say, it was interesting. We got in bed just fine, I tried to have her help me with her good leg and arm to push up so her head would be closer to the head of the bed and her bottom would be in the crook where the bed sits straight up to eat...she looked at me and said, "I don't think you should have done this by yourself..." I laughed, trying to make light of her uncomfortable position, and told her, "yeah, I think you're right there Lisa." I stood in the hallway and waited for the nurse to come help me pull her up. When we did, she ate her lunch and I left her to sleep so she would have a good therapy afternoon.

She can stand up really good, there is improvement every single day. I can see it. She tells me that she has a bad leg and a bad arm. I tell her that it will come back and she tells me that she knows that. She has not given up, I don't think she has ever given up on anything, come to think of it. She just deals with whatever comes her way and just keeps going.

I have been with her a few times for her therapies, she was writing her name on the mirror with a dry erase marker, looking at herself sitting up and keeping her balance. That was hard for her earlier but is mastering that skill. She is able to copy simple objects on the mirror, like a sun, a house, connecting the dots. She feels great accomplishment when she does things, and she should. She is really doing well.

Her target date is July 9th, to get out of the hospital...from there she will need 24 hour care. We don't know where she will go, don't know our options, and really haven't been able to think about it. It is in the back of our minds all the time, but we will have some hard decisions to make in these next couple of weeks...please pray for us, and pray for Lisa to make a remarkable recovery.