Day #97

I'm here in St. Louis with Jennifer. I drove up yesterday afternoon & stayed here at the hospital with her last night. I am amazed at the improvements in her speech since I was last here. It's still difficult to understand what she's saying, but she can say anything that she wants to! After several tries of trying to figure out what she wanted last night & asking many questions trying to figure it out, I asked her to spell it. Well, I couldn't understand some of the letters she was spelling so I started going through the alphabet. I told her I felt like I was playing Hangman & was about to get hanged! She laughed! She finally told me "Never mind". Then later she was trying to tell me something else. This time I figured it out fairly quickly. I joked "We didn't have to play Hangman or 20 Questions that time!" She laughed again.

One of the nurses asked who I was & I told her I'm Jennifer's older sister. I told Jennifer to tell the nurse how old I am because she thinks it's funny that I'm almost 40. She told the nurse "40". The nurse then asked how old she is. Jennifer said "25". I told her "You're not 25! You're 28!" She laughed! She had no trouble telling the nurse I was 40, but tried to lie about how old she is!

I can't even begin to put into words how it makes me feel to see her smiling & to hear her laugh. At one point, we would've given anything to see even the slightest grin. Now she laughs & smiles all the time. She's actually had the giggles this morning & had me laughing so hard I was crying! Even the nurses commented on how giggly she was today.

They asked her earlier if she wanted to get in her wheelchair & she said "no". Then the therapist asked her if she was ready to go to therapy & she said "no". I told them they were always going to get "no" for an answer so they shouldn't bother asking. Jennifer, once again, laughed about that.

She has regained some movement of her left leg. She can bend it some & moves it around in the bed. This is the leg that she had surgery on & it causes her a little pain to bend it. Her hands still cause her considerable pain. She should be getting the Botox injections Monday. There has been a slight delay in those because they were shipped to David & Jennifer's house instead of the hospital by mistake! I joked with Jennifer that Grammy might decide to try some! This made Jennifer laugh too! David brought the Botox here to the hospital yesterday, but the dr who was supposed to give them to her was sick yesterday. So that's why we are now looking at Monday for the injections.

David asked her yesterday if she wanted him to give her a pedicure & she said "No. Lynn." So when she gets back from therapy today I'm going to give her a pedicure. She's already told me she wants red polish.

Like I said I stayed at the hospital last night & will also be staying here tonight. I told David that would give him a break. He said he didn't really need a break, but that his mom probably did! Kacyn hasn't been sleeping the last few nights so she hasn't gotten much sleep. He was awake & crying until 5am one night! David has a couple of essays due tomorrow so he's doing those this morning before he comes up to the hospital. He said he might bring Jo up today! I hope so! I would love to see him as would Jennifer!

David is doing his physical therapy several times a week. Even though he's been walking on his leg for several weeks, he said it still hurts because they are stretching out those muscles. So you can just imagine how Jennifer's physical therapy hurts. She hasn't used any of her muscles in weeks!

Jennifer still isn't eating 50% of her food so she's still getting feeding through her feeding tube. She tries, but just can't get 50% of it down. It's a combination of her not really liking the food & her not feeling hungry.

David told me last night that Jennifer could be going home in as little as 30 days. She'll probably have to go home with a wheelchair so they are having a ramp built on to their house sometime in the next couple of weeks. It will be a joyous occasion for all of us when Jennifer finally gets to go home! Our God is good! We will have our Jennifer home & whole before too long!

David told her yesterday about the events of the last 14 weeks that have led her to here. She wants him to read the blog to her so I think he's going to start reading it to her this afternoon or maybe tomorrow. We've told her about the outpouring of love. When David reads the comments on the blog, it will be proof of it! I know I have thanked you before, but I can't thank you enough for the support, love, & prayers for our dear sister, wife, mother, daughter, friend. We are truly blessed to have such dear & caring friends. Thank you for being part of Jennifer's Miracle. I know you just like I do look forward to hearing Jennifer's testimony & the story of her miracle in her own words.

Please continue to pray for her. She still has a long road ahead of her, but she is getting closer to the end of it with each passing day.

We love you!
Lynn