My 2 cents

I was in yesterday and when I took out a pen to help her pick out her menu choices I was surprised when she took the pen from me. I gave her some paper and she started to write some letters. Fabulous!!! Melody stopped tonight and found that Martha now has a cast on her right arm. Not sure why but will leave some markers tomorrow night so people can sign it.

An inspiring Thursday visit!

What pleasant surprise to visit Martha today.

The last time I saw her, about three weeks ago, she was dazed and mostly unresponsive. I doubt that she recognized me.

This time she was sitting in a chair, smiling and looking around her hospital room. She knew me, with a little prompting from Jim Fogler, and we spent about 20 minutes chatting about the Super Bowl and all the snow that we are NOT getting in Rochester.

Her therapist came to take her to the afternoon session. We accompanied her as she rolled her wheelchair to the elevators. An amazing accomplishment.

Martha DeShong is a strong woman and an inspiration.

Tom Flynn-

Maureen's day with Martha (sun 2/7)

Had to work Saturday, got home at 6:30 am but didn't go to bed. Felt like visiting Martha so went to Tops to get some flowers cause I told Martha I would. Got at St. Mary's at lunch time at saw Martha in the lunch room. I noticed right away that the right side of Martha's face wasn't hanging down. I met Rita, her nurse for the afternoon. I also met Buffy and Maureen later. Martha didn't eat much of her ground pork, squash and small potatoes. When she drank her tea, she made a face like it was the worst stuff out there but kept going back to it. I asked her if she liked it, she shook her head for "no" but was nodding her head for "yes". We talked and Martha answered with effort on some words. A lot of time, I didn't understand her answer but that's ok. I told her she looked marvelous and she repeated the word beautifully and with emotion. We then took a stroll with the wheel chair which she had done with Dave. Saw the physical therapy room and then signed out to go to a different floor. Saw the chapel and I looked at all the names on the plaques, looking for "Martha". Saw three Margarets, one was Margaret A. Reynolds but no Martha. Martha shrugged and rolled her eyes. Went back to the lunch room and Martha wanted to go back to her room. Got a call from Randy saying that he was going to come over and would Martha want a Wendy's Frosty. Martha said ummmm. Rita came in and hooked Martha up to a vitamin enriched bag of blond color liquid. Randy came in which two nutty buddies because a Wendy's wasn't to be found. Rita said that it would be ok but without the crushed nuts on top. Martha made a mess of it but looked at nutty buddy before eating it, turning it, left and right.
Martha looked tired after that so Randy and I met Buffy and Maureen who helped Martha into bed. Martha wanted to be washed so that's when Randy and I left. I kissed Martha and told her that we need her to be walking before she goes home in a few weeks. She nodded her head and kissed me.
It was great being with Martha, seeing the progress that she has made since last Sunday.
Keep the prays of thanks coming and positive thoughts.

Great day

great post Jim!!! I agree Martha is making great progress. Martha did great with her first meal. She filled up after only a few bits because up to that point everything has been liquid. At one point there was a piece of rice on the right side of her lip and she felt it there and picked it off. That is great because in the past even a cold hand on the right side of her face was not felt! Martha had a shower today and was tentative about getting wet prompting one therapist to check her response to cold and warm water by having her stick her hand into a cup of each. No real response to the warm water. She did respond to the cold water by saying cold ooooohhh. The thought now is that the water hitting her body rather than the temperature of the water may have caused a sensory overload . Being a part of the therapy sessions today was very interesting. I'm learning so much about how she is thinking and learning. The speech therapist said don't just nod your head in agreement if you don't understand Martha. The only way she will correct herself is if she knows it doesn't make sense. She is beginning to realize that things don't make sense and attempts to come up with the words and sentences. All great progress considering the doctors at Strong originally didn't think she would ever talk again. You go Martha!!!

update from Mel

Having heard such good things about earlier visits, when I was at St Mary's tonight I put in a good word for Martha to fix pulled pork at some point when she gets home. Martha's pulled pork is my favorite and the standard to which all others are compared. I reminded her that she didn't fix it at all this football season, not even for my birthday, so I was really looking forward to her being able to make it at some point in the future.

It's truly amazing the progress we've seen in just a few days. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts.

Thursday: Another BIG Milestone Day!

Brian Ambor and I visited Martha today, and boy did we have an eventful visit. When we arrived both David and Linda were still there in the room and the nurse was serving Martha lunch. As Dave mentions in the post below, progress has been made in her swallowing ability, so this was a big step for her, not to mention, her first lunch! Not impressed with the St Mary’s chicken and greens (and Martha knows her greens), she was only able to get down a little bit of her lunch. She did inhale the pudding though and fed herself pretty good. When asked what flavor pudding she was eating, Martha replied with a word very close to vanilla. The nurse then asked if she knew who was in the room and replied clear as a bell, FAMILY. Since most of her lunch was still on her plate, they still needed to feed her through her feeding tube. When the nurse finally came back to feed her, in Martha fashion, she just rolled her eyes and head back.

After David and Linda left, we decided to stick around a bit to keep her company. From previous posts, as you read, Martha has really made progress with her words but is still struggling to put words into sentences. And let me tell you, she is trying real hard to string her words together. After a good effort, a few four letter words slip out – she actually has those words down pretty good!!! She did surprise us a few times in typical Martha fashion … she said, VEY after I said, OY a few times. And here’s the BEST one of them ALL … Brian was explaining to her that we had a good month, significantly over the 2nd revised plan number, but I quickly reminded him that were still off the last year number and without missing a beat, Martha jumped in and said, YA SUCK LESS and then shrugged her shoulders! This came out of her mouth clear as a friggin’ bell. She had Brian and I in tears laughing.

After a few conversations later, I noticed her looking over at Brian very intrigued. I then realized, she was watching him checking email on his iphone. The light bulb went OFF, so I immediately took out mine and with her left hand she reached over and grabbed it, pushed in the button and fired it up. She knew exactly what to do. I then helped her get to my photo app and she began flipping through my photo’s with the phone in her left hand, and with her left thumb. I didn't even have to help her do this. Of course, the first 10-15 pics were of my 18 month year old son Andrew. We truly believe she remembered him, as she smiled after I said his name a bunch of times and shared with her how he used to play with her kitty cat Gary and messed up her Tupperware at times. After we went through my photo’s and Brian’s doggie pics – we tried some games. Brian launched his TIC TAC TOE app and after a few tries, we were playing TIC TAC TOE with Martha – like riding a bike, she knew how to play. She smiled each time she beat me -- I know ALL too well how much Martha hates to lose. : ) We then played these Toddler Teaser games, where she was actually recognizing shapes by pressing on them. It was truly amazing to see all this progress on this visit. I also thought while we had our iphone’s out, we’d play her a few tunes. So I played her the Pink Glove Dance song by Jay Sean and she immediately sang, down, down, down in sync with the song… and said Bronte’s name right after. I asked her if Bronte liked the song and she nodded yes, or it appeared that way. Brian then played, twist and shout and she seemed to like that song, too with her smile. All good stuff!

I’m writing in a lot excitement, since I’ve witnessed tremendous strides today from where she sat just a week ago.

BTW: If you live locally, Dave and the rest of the family welcome your visit. The more folks that stop bye and say hello, the better, as she continues to connect the dots.

Keep your prayers and happy thoughts coming!

Travel plans changed

Dave has moved his trip to Asheville up a week, so he'll be home if Martha is indeed discharged on Feb 24. He's also working with the therapists and social worker at St Mary's to see what the next steps for Martha should be (as opposed to what insurance dictates). Stay tuned for the next exciting installment ...

Today's Martha milestones

Hello everyone,

Martha's learning how to maneuver a wheel chair. She's dressed and wearing sneakers now and uses her left foot to move backwards and forwards. She can stand up long enough to have a wheelchair placed behind her and she's learning to scootch to the edge of the bed. All important for mobility. The physical therapist worked with her today in front of a mirror so she could watch her right side move. And the other day the speech therapist asked her where she lived and she said "The United States of America," clear as day. And her trache tube is gone. Good thing too because she's figured out how to take off the mitt on her left hand. The other day she looked it over very thoroughly, used her teeth to unwind the velcro around her wrist and handed the mitt to Dave. She clearly said my name on Sunday and is working hard to say Dave's name.

Thanks everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts. It's all good.