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!
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