Thursday, December 14th

Fill the cup with lots of ice chips. Fa la la la la.. la la la la
Screw the food just bring me ice chips. Fa la la la la.. la la la la
I don’t need this stinkin face mask. Fa la la la la la la la la
There’s the door, go get my ice chips. Fa la la la la.. la la la la

Ha.. just found myself making this up while I was sitting here trying to figure out how to start this post. Made me laugh, so I guess it did its job. I’ll have to teach that one to Kerrie when I get back to Michigan and she can sing it to her nurses when they are trying to get her to eat or put on the humidifer mask.

I would have been more than happy to put a post on yesterday, but didn’t get to speak to my mom until after 11:30pm..She said there hadn’t been anything new to tell, so she didn’t call right away. Doesn’t she know there are some of us that sit by the computer ( or in my case the phone), and check it throughout the day because we want to know every time she blinks, every time she smiles, every time she goes to the bathroom ( I haven’t been including that in my posts 🙂 and don’t plan too).. every time she breathes?

By the time I did talk to her I was so tired I could barely make it off the couch, much less to the computer…needless to say, yesterday she blinked, smiled, went to the bathroom, breathed, sat in a chair and ate ice chips.

As for today, all of the above with the exception of sitting in the chair. I guess physical therapy thought it would be better to get her standing for a while. Now that she’s getting some movement back in her right leg they probably need to start working on her putting weight on it, etc. I’m sure it will be a while, but I can’t wait for the day that she will be able to stand and with no assistance and not having to hold herself up.

Mom spoke with Krystal, the Nurse Practicioner on the BMT team, and they talked about the possiblity of starting to look for a rehab center that would be able/willing to take Kerrie.

This may be difficult, as she would require a private room and they would have to be able to give her the medical care she needs as well… so it may be difficult, if not impossible, to find a place for her in the near future. Not to mention Dr. Jana would still need to approve that her tranplant condition would even allow her this possibility right now. They are just in the phase of talking about looking, but they feel it’s important that Kerrie start getting extensive physical therapy, that she can’t really get where she’s at right now.. so they at least want to look into it.

I told Mom not only did we have to find a place that would allow her the private room, right atmospheric conditions and appropriate medical treatment but that it had to be a place that would also allow me to live in the room with her when I am there. They will have a hard time getting rid of me, so they had better just allow it and get it over with 🙂

Someone from Nuerosurgy finally came and said they don’t feel the problems that showed up on her last MRI are new… they were most likely there before.. and it will continue to be monitored.
Someone from Nuero-Psychology is also going to meet with Kerrie to try to evaluate where she’s at, mentally, and how much of “Kerrie” we will be able to bring back.

I’m anxious to hear what they have to say.. but I’m also hopeful that she will be able to prove them wrong. I know we will never have Kerrie back 100%, but I would like as much of her as we can get.. she’s surprised the doctors and proven some of them wrong so far.. hopefully she’ll do the same in this area too.

With Christmas a week away, much of our family is still pondering over what the heck we can actually get Kerrie for Christmas. Our Uncle Dave has come up with an amazing idea that will probably mean more to her than any store bought item we could give her. I know my sweet, big hearted, loving sister and I know this is the kind of heart felt thing that would mean the world to her. He has put a post, in the gallery, about this project and I encourage everyone to take part it in. I almost started crying when I first read his idea and pictured Kerrie opening this gift on Christmas.

Only two more days and I’ll be able to get back to Michigan to see my Ker-bear.Until then I hope the nurses keep her happy with those ice chips.

Jenn