Day 29 - Thursday January 12, 2012

Bridgett's really been doing a lot of sign language.  Today when the nurse came in I asked her to sign his name, Ryan, and she did.  Then I asked her to sign the CNA's name, Clayton and I told her the letters as she signed them.  Then I said sign Michael the new CNA and I didn't spell with her and she signed it correctly. I had her sing Popcorn Popping with me--I sang and she did the actions.  She walked a lot and then rode the new step machine at its highest setting for 10 minutes.  She then went to occupational therapy and she signed Rebecca's name.  Rebecca showed her cards with numbers on them and she signed what the number was.  She also wanted to write and took the marker and wrote her name twice. She went to speech therapy and wrote hello, mom, dad, Jessica (one of the therapists name) and then they put a finger over her trach and practiced speaking.  She can whisper and she did the alphabet, counting to 50, the days of the week, and the months of the year.  She repeated nursery rhymes they asked for and sang a song.  The double vision interferes with doing some of the things they want her to do.  The doctors want to give her until next week sometime and if vision still seems to be a problem they will send her to a neuro optomologist.  We are still amazed about the pureed food they give her!  This morning she had french toast--pureed and then molded to look like french toast.  She ate about 1/2 piece.  She only had 3-4 small bites of her lunch, but ate 1/2 of her dinner.  She is not choking at all.  As time goes by they will upgrade her to the next level of food, which includes stuff like macaroni and cheese.  The doctor OK'd removing her pic line today so that got done.  Now only three things to pull out--the trach, the peg and the catheter--none of them a good thing to pull out--and the collar to pull off.  The peg HAS to be in for six weeks, whether they need to use it or not.  The collar needs to be worn for 8 weeks or so, so halfway through.  We are hoping to downsize the trach next week, in preparation for getting rid of it.  Also, they are hoping to get rid of the catheter next week.