Getting braver

Today while we were watching football at the Deshong's, Dave mentioned that earlier in the week Martha managed to walk from the far side of the family room over to the dining room and back to get a couple of pieces of chocolate. So now we know what she'll do with the proper motivation.

Also, her hair is growing back quickly. Right now it's at the itchy stage.

All by herself

I'd heard about it, but yesterday I saw it with my own eyes. Martha got off the couch and walked with her quad cane, all by herself. Only then did I realize that her wheelchair was not in the customary place near the fireplace. Dave has her walking as much as possible and now it's her first choice as well. She was heading for the bathroom yesterday but Dave said she's also gotten up and just walked around the house.

She had quite the appetite yesterday as well. She had meatloaf, potato soup and a slice of quiche for lunch.

And thanks go out to Michael Kane, Jim Fogler and Dennis for visiting on Saturday. Martha really enjoyed seeing you and sharing her hot chocolate. Martha always enjoys company, and that hasn't changed at all.

Update

Martha got out of the hospital last Wednesday. I didn't get a chance to see her until today. She's back to wearing hats for a while -- the stitches come out tomorrow. I can't post pictures here, but you might be able to see them at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=242509&id=659706999&l=6a1596b333

Progress report

Martha’s doing much better today. Yesterday she was uncomfortable and nauseous but today she’s sitting up and eating. She’ll probably be in the hospital for another day or two while they get the blood-thinner medication levels worked out.
From Chloe: "Mom had the drainage tubes removed and is back to her old self. I've heard she's even flirting with the male nurses! For breakfast she had pancakes and bacon.. and for dinner she's having a Reuben! Dad also turned the TV on for her. :) All is well!"

Surgery update

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts. Martha came through the surgery fine. Everything took longer than expected and she has to lay flat for 24 hrs so no air pockets form, but in spite of all that, she may go home tomorrow. We thought she might be there for as much as 5-6 days. She's in the same room at Strong that she was in January. She spoke her first word the day she left that room. Boy! Is the staff going to be surprised at her progress since then.

Update

Lots of family visited Martha today. She's going into the hospital on Wednesday to have the chunk of skull that was removed in January put back in place. It means they're to shave her head again. She'll be in the hospital for 4-5 days while they get her back on blood thinners after the surgery. Please think good thoughts on Wednesday.

Observations

Last Sunday I stopped by to see Martha. She was just getting ready to watch TV but the remote wasn't working for her. Fairly annoyed, she handed it to me to see if I could make it work (pretty funny because I normally hand the remote to Linda to sort out). Anyway, I got the remote to pull up a menu on the TV, and then started clicking through to find football. Martha knew when I hit the list of NFL channels!

I don't know how or how many, but I think she recognizes some words. Chloe says she's noticed the same thing. I asked Martha and she said yes. I think the disconnect is in her ability to process and/or communicate what she saw/read.

Mo and Bob also stopped by and brought Martha a lottery ticket. Interestingly enough, she knew she was supposed to scratch off the gray stuff. That's hard to do one-handed, so she handed it to me to finish. She won $8. Bob wanted to look at the ticket (yeah, right) but she was not going to give it up. And we were treated to a couple of rounds of "I won, I won, I won."

P.S. She liked the chili I made. I'm guessing, but I imagine she liked the ice cream Bob and Mo brought as well. ;-) Coming up this Sunday -- scalloped potatoes.