Abby update - November 15

The highlight of Abby's day today was another visit by a therapy dog, "Licky Nicky!"  Nicky is a wonderful yellow lab, and Abby had a really good experience with her.  They started out with Abby getting to lay down by Nicky on the therapy mat, where she was assisted in reaching her arm over to stroke Nicky.  Abby was all smiles, especially when we joked that, if it was Arby, he'd be stretching out his legs to hog all the mat for himself!  Since Abby's grasping a little better now, she also played some tug-of-war with Nicky (and I was impressed with a dog who actually stops tugging when you tell her to stop!), and was encouraged to move her hands to push toys off for Nicky to pick up.  Although I ache for Abby to be able to do more with dogs, today was encouraging, because it let us see that Abby has improved a lot since the pet therapy session last week.

 

Abby's other strong point today was again her ability to assist us in feeding her.  She's especially good holding and moving a cup in her left hand, and we now simply have to provide a minimum amount of support under her hand throughout the whole process of moving from her tray to her mouth.  Her diet still consists of pureed foods and nectars.  One FAQ is why she can't have thin liquids if she can have thicker foods.  That's because the primary issue for her now is if she can control the food in her mouth and move it into the esophagus without allowing any into the trachea.  Because thin liquids flow to the back of the throat very quickly, it is sometimes harder for patients to prevent some entry into the trachea.  Still, I bet she'd love a good, long drink of water!  (Which is actually the last thin liquid to get introduced.)

 

Frank and I had a good day as well.  We attended a Young People's Concert by the San Antonio Symphony.  Frank had severe doubts while walking into the auditorium at Trinity University, but the conductor and the local Fox News weatherman made the session very fun--showing how weather is depicted in some classical music pieces and throwing in a bit of meteorology.  Then we acted like tourists and went to the Buckhorn Museum--I guess that Texas kitzy stuff must have made more of an impression on me as a kid newly arrived from Georgia, 'cause it sure didn't today...oh well, at least I made sure that Frank had this Texan experience...

 

We closed out our evening with Frank and me reading "Hank the Cowdog" out loud to Abby.  That's been a tradition with both our kids, and we really had Abby smiling and laughing.  We've enjoyed our family evenings with Abby lately--watching some favorite shows, visiting with good friends, reading favorite books.  It's been a sweet feeling to have these family times together, but I've really been petitioning God this week to give Abby an ability to communicate back to us.  With brain-injured patients sometimes it's eye movements, sometimes it's hand movements, sometimes it's speech that comes first, but sometimes, with "wires crossed," so to speak, it just takes awhile for the patient to translate their desire into a consistent response.  Pray for Abby that she will find the method that works for her and for us that we will recognize it when she tries...

 

And thank you for communicating with us too--we've had many wonderful responses from so many of you...

 

Love,

Lee Ann, Gordon, Abby & Frank

 

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