Thursday, March 8

I see there’s another comment posted from Kerrie, so unless she managed to sneak out of her room and get to a computer, Mom must have had her out for a stroll again.

Mom insisted I didn’t need to worry about the computer being disinfected, because Kerrie only types with one finger.. and then she promptly licks her finger off to make sure she keeps it clean 🙂 Actually, Kerrie tells Mom what to say and Mom types it.. all except for her name. Kerrie types that herself. Today’s comment shows a bit of a change in Kerrie. Most people may not have even noticed ( I’ll admit I didn’t right way.. Mom had to point it out to me). When Kerrie signed her name today she remembered to capitalize it. Not a life changing incident, but a pretty big deal for her. The fact that she remembered this, without being told is an improvement.

While on their stroll, they stopped in the visitors waiting room and Kerrie spent some time looking out the window.. then asked Mom if the parking lot outside was the guest parking lot or employee parking lot. She was trying to find her bearings as to where she was in the hospital and it was a good sign that she remembered there were different parking lots.

They spent some time talking about everything that’s happened to Kerrie, what she remembers, what she doesn’t remember and that there must be a reason for all that’s happened to her.. we just don’t know what it is yet. Mom feels she understands what’s happened, and what they talked about, but doesn’t really know how much of it Kerrie comprehends fully.

They talked about her eye and Kerrie said she couldn’t wait until it was fixed. Mom explained to her that her vision couldn’t be fixed right now, but who knows what they will be capable of in the future.. and that once she was strong enough to be able to have surgery that she would definately be able to have her eyelid fixed. An opthomologist even told Mom once the surgery can be done that Kerrie would be able to open and close her eyelid. I asked how she’d be able to do close the eyelid once it’s opened, but Mom’s not sure. Maybe she’ll have to manually do it.. but at least she’ll have the ability. Kerrie seemed to accept all this.. or at least she is from outward appearances.

Mom’s been working with her on simple math skills, etc. to see what her mental capacities are right now and, for the most part, Kerrie has done O.K. There was a point, yesterday, where Mom gave her something a little too difficult and she started crying and told Mom it was too hard. When she gets to something she can’t do, especially something that should be simple, she’ll start to cry. Mom keeps telling me that a lot of this is due to the stroke, and I’m sure this is true, but I believe alot of her crying is because she really does understand what’s happened.

As for the math,she can do very basic addition and subtraction, but not capable of too much more than that right now. We’ll just keep encouraging her to try.. she’ll have to practice… and learn it all again. Kerrie will probably never be able to get a job as an accountant, but if she has retained enough to count out her change to me, when I kick her butt in Poker, then I’ll be happy. Truth be told, she could outplay me any day.. and probably still can.

She’s feeling kind of lonely right now. That was evident from the comment she made about hoping people will come to visit her when she comes home ( Mom typed it.. but she told Mom what to write). She always has plenty of visitors on Saturdays, but the rest of her week is pretty lonely. When she gets visitors, they all come on the Saturday and all at the same time.. this is, of course, because the weekend is when everyone actually has free time to come see her.. but, I’m trying to find a way to get her more active during the week.

Admittedly, she’s not always the best company.. unless you catch her first thing in the morning ( or the middle of the night) she’s probably going to be worn out and sleeping…she’s not going to hold up a long conversation, and will end up staring at the TV most of the time you come to visit… but even someone stopping in for 5 minutes, just to say “hi”, fill her in on the recent gossip or tell her what happened on Grey’s Anatomy means the world to her. We know it will be even more difficult for people to come visit her once she’s at home.. and I think she’s worried about that too. Even home can be a lonely place.. so I’m determined to make sure she has a lot to keep her occupied… INSTEAD of always staring at the TV waiting for the next person to walk in the room.

Not sure how I will do this exactly, but if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them (I’m sure Mom would too…).

She finally got over the thing with the ice chips.. now we have to find a way to turn off that TV!