another great day

From Mel: Linda and I visited Martha earlier today. She was using her left hand to move the fingers on her right hand. The other day she covered up her right hand with the sheet. She knows her right hand is there. As we were getting ready to leave, I put her mitt back on her hand. She turned her head to the right, facing Linda, and put the mitt up to the side of her mouth as if to tell Linda a secret she didn't want me to hear. She did it about three times. She got a lot of positive reinforcement from our laughter.

From Linda: When the Dr came in this evening he found Martha with one knee up and a magazine resting on it. She was leafing through it with her left hand, turning the pages one at a time, and rubbing them together to make sure she didn't miss one. She has been trying to talk. Sometimes they plug the trache with a solid piece called a speaking plug to see how well she can breathe on her own. She is doing wonderful. She is trying to speak, although the nurse says it doesn't make sense yet. That will take time. However those of you who know and love her know that patience is not a strong point. She gets frustrated. Tomorrow we are going to try scrabble pieces to see if she can put some words together. When the Dr found out how well she was doing he was really surprised and happy. Already she has exceeded his expectations.... GO Martha!!!!