Update on Grace, Sunday, Aug 15

Sunday. Latest update 7:45 PM.

9:30 AM - Jan and I were up early today, and went to visit Grace before church and before all the big events of the day kick off.

Grace was awake when we got there, watching TV, with the TV controller/speaker unit in her hand. She was happy to see us and gave us a big smile.

Jan said, "How'd you sleep, Mama?" and Grace answered, "I didn't sleep at all." I wasn't too worried, because this is not unusual for Grace to be awake at night, particularly after a good sleep previously (I'm getting more and more like that, myself, and I imagine many readers here can also identify with it), and if there's one thing Grace has done a lot of recently, it's sleeping!

Also, during our visit, which lasted about 15 minutes, Grace fell asleep twice, into just a light doze, but it was the kind of sleep where you don't really realize you've been asleep, so I suspect this happened throughout last night as well - she actually did get some sleep, but was awake enough that it seemed to her like she didn't sleep. I've been there before, too.

While we were there we read her a couple of cards and emails out of the ever-growing stack (Grace really appreciates all of them; thank you all for sending them!), and Grace was very glad to hear them.

She still doesn't have her glasses back yet, so we are reading them to her. Jan asked if she wanted her glasses back yet, or if she was okay without them for now. Grace considered this a minute and said, "I'm okay without them for how, I think." I had to wonder if she answered that way simply because she didn't want us to be bothered to fetch them for her.

As all of you who know Grace are aware, she's the kind of person who will endure significant inconvenience or even discomfort, just so she's not a bother to other people. She's such a beautifully considerate person. I've learned so much just from knowing her. We all could.

When we got there, the sign was still on the door that said Grace was not yet allowed to have anything by mouth. However, while we were there, the CNA (certified nursing assistant?) came in and said she'd read Grace's chart, and the chard said she could have a bit of water and some ice chips now!

Woo-hoo!

This is the first time in more than a week, except once in the ICU (that we know of) that Grace has been able to take anything to swallow, so we celebrated.

The CNA came in with a cup of ice and water. She first gave Grace a sip of water, then put a small (plastic) spoonful of ice chips in her mouth.

You know the expression you get on your face when you taste something that's out-of-this-world delicious? The expression with that small smile, and where your eyes roll back in your head? That's the expression that came over Grace's face when she got the ice chips in her mouth.

Ooooohhh! This is SOOOO good!

She only got 2 or 3 spoonfuls of ice, which she chewed delightedly, then the CNA said she could have some more later. We were so glad to see Grace taking this and loving it.

When Grace speaks right now, it sounds as though her tongue is still a bit numb, like you might sound if you had been eating an Icee and had held a mouthful of that in your mouth just a bit too long.

Jan asked, "Mom, is your tongue still sore?" Grace thought about this a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, a bit."

I'm glad she had to think about it before answering, because that tells me it's more just stiff than sore, that it probably doesn't bother her unless she tries to exercise it too much. I don't know that's totally accurate, but that's what it seems like to me.

I know many of you are anxious to contact Grace, to call her or come see her and talk to her. Please, be patient a little while longer. Grace is solidly on the road to recovery now, but she's still not up for seeing or talking to "company." She's still a bit groggy from the aftereffects of the anesthesia and the week-long nap, but I know she wants to hear from all of you, even to talk to you as soon as she can.

Because of this, I'll be watching carefully for the earliest time when she can start taking phone calls, and the time when she can receive visitors, and I'll definitely let you know here as soon as it's time for each of those.

Bill has gone to visit her now, and soon Daniel and Shelley will go visit her; so she will not be lacking for family company now that she's awake and alert and with us again.

And again, thank you, Lord!

Your prayers are still needed and wanted and much appreciated.

I'll post here again as soon as I have more to tell.

Have a blessed Sabbath, everyone.

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2:00 PM - About 11 This morning, Shelley and Daniel and Jan and I went to visit Grace again. Bill had been there in between this and our previous visits, and reported she was fine, and had been sleeping a lot.

We got there, and she was glad to see us again, of course. Shelley had brought my old guitar, which with a little coaxing held some pretty good intonation, in spite of a loose tuning peg. The nurse had to come in and perform a we-won't-say-what procedure while we waited outside, then as we were going in, I asked the nurse if she wanted us to close the door while we sang for Grace. The nurse said, no, you don't need to, but whatever you want. I was grinning inside as she said that, but didn't say anything.

We greeted Grace again and chatted for a few minutes, then we started singing "How Great Thou Art," with Shelley strumming the guitar and a few of us making semi-humorous attempts at harmony, but none of us holding back on our enthusiasm. We had sung maybe three bars when the nurse appeared and pulled the door closed.

I prefer to think that she closed the door because of our enthusiastic volume, and not because of any intolerable harmonies we may have been creating.

Grace very much enjoyed the "service," which also included us singing three verses of "Be Thou My Vision." Then Jan and I left, because we had some pre-shower shopping to do, while Daniel and Shelley stayed a bit lonber.

They played and sang a few more songs. Grace brought up the subject of the birdbath outside her window, which on their previous visit Daniel relocated and set up so she could see it while sitting at her computer. She said she was so happy with it there and thanked Daniel again for doing that work.

Then Shelley told Grandma a story about what Katie did last night. She pretended to have her baby doll put blocks on the pegs, except for the last two, which Katie put on the pegs herself. Shelley asked, "But what about your baby doll?" Katie looked at her dollie lying nearby on the floor and responded, "Baby nite nite!" Grace got a good laugh from that story.

After that, the nurst came in to check on a few things, and Grace told the nurse, "Shelley's having a party today!" It was good to hear that Grace is more and more alert and aware of all that's going on now.

Grace did ask for more ice chips, which Shelley got for her, and soon thereafter, Daniel and Shelley left.

Bill has gone back to visit some more, probably only partially to see Grace, but I'm sure also partially to escape the baby shower that will be starting here at the house in less than half an hour as I write this.

Which means I better get busy, too. I'll be photographing the shower, and we'll get prints of the best pictures and take them to Grace so she can see what all happened. I know she'll be very happy to see the pictures.

I'll probably post the pictures on line, and put a link here in the blog for anyone who is interested in seeing the pictures.

Have a blessed day, everyone! More to come soon.

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7:45 AM - We're having a minor concern here, and can definitely use your prayers through this.

Grace has been asking for Snick. She'll say to Jan or Bill, "I don't know why your Dad hasn't come to see me yet," and "I don't understand where Snick is," and similar statements.

Bill is distressed because he doesn't want to tell her Snick died seven years ago and perhaps crush her spirits, or send her into a depression.

Jan talked to the charge nurse about it tonight, and the nurse said it's probably best to just go ahead and remind her that he passed and that's why she now lives in Mississippi.

It's definitely a matter of some concern to us. And it's not something I think we can allow to go on.

Another aspect to the concern is that her speech is still slurred a bit. Up to now, we've attributed that to her tongue injury, and to her recovering from having had a breathing tube in her throat, and having had that breathing assist device in her mouth, and to her throat and mouth being dry from not being allowed anything by mouth until today. However, with this new concern, we might also need to consider the possibility that she had a bit more severe concussion than they at first thought.

I'll be sure to ask the nurse, and if I can find him, the doctor, about it tomorrow.

In any case, Grace is still in great need of prayer. She may be on the road to recovery, but she's not totally there yet.

On top of this, Jan and I are totally exhausted. It was a very fun baby shower for Shelley; there were about a dozen people here, and Sarah and Jan outdid themselves in the preparation. They made chocolate-dipped pretzels and strawberries, coffee-and-ice-cream punch, strawberry-mint-lemonade punch, BBQ cocktail franks, a veggie platter, a 10" cake and matching cupcakes (from Sam's), and the piece de resistance, "bird's nests" made of Chinese noodles dipped in a mixture of melted butterscotch and peanut butter chips, with chocolate eggs inside. The decorations included lots of birdhouses, leaves and trees, and, of course, baby stuff.

Daniel took video of much of the shower, and I snapped nearly 200 still photos. Lots of them will be close-duplicates, and many of them won't turn out, but out of that number of photos, there are sure to be quite a few decent ones. I'll cull the duds and tweak the keepers, then see if I can combine the videos and the remaining pictures into a video so Grace can see the shower in a few days. I'll also see about posting one or more of the videos on YouTube, and most of the keeper photos on a photo sharing site, so if anyone reading this is interested, you'll be able to see them too. I'll post a link in the blog, so you can also skip it if you'd rather.

Daniel and Shelley are now on the road back to Tulsa, and will probably arrive about 3AM. We are praying for their safety and alertness on the road. Poor Daniel has to go to work at 8AM tomorrow.

I'll chat with Bill tonight about the best way to approach this concern with Grace; I'll probably be the one tomorrow to help her remember all of the current situation. But I need to pray about it a lot, and can certainly use your prayers as well.

Bill just came in and reported that he just got off the phone with Kelly (his stepdaughter) in Missouri, who works for one of the biggest neurosurgeons in the state, and she says it's not uncommon for elderly people coming out from under serious anesthesia to have this sort of memory loss, even as long as two or three weeks.

So perhaps the right thing to do is to just wait it out.

Again, prayer can only help.

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