Consider This...

Greetings Everyone,

It appears that the staff at the Madonna Rehab Hospital have no problem working Rachel to the max. Since she has arrived, they have made it clear that the only reason that she is there is to build her strength and health back up to a level where she can function independently. They have a very strong philosophy of 'do it yourself', which is quite different from a traditional hospital.

Here are the highlights so far:

1. She starts work at about 9:00 AM. She bathes, helps get herself dressed, and prepares for the rigors ahead.
2. She had an endoscope put down her nose yesterday, so the doctors could see her swallowing muscles function. They even burned the video to DVD for us. We're going to put it on UTube. Not really. The results were good, she can swallow decently, and she will begin with a soft-food diet today.
3. They stand her up on her own feet several times a day, and take her to the gym several times a day as well. It has been made clear that hard work will be needed in order for her to regain her strength, and so far, she has had a great attitude about that work. They are constantly putting forth challenges in front of her that are a bit more difficult than the previous task.
4. She is beginning to point to letters to communicate however, on Monday, she will have the Trach removed (yeah!). At that point, they will begin working with her in getting her 'speech muscles' (tongue, throat, etc) back up to par.

They weighed her upon entry to the facility, and surprisingly, she hasn't lost much weight. This is a good thing, as she has basically been immobile for the past month.

Phil and Crystal are the two that have spent the most time with her the last few days, and in the very limited amount of time that they have been at Madonna, they have seen a pretty dramatic improvement.

They have a tentative release date of November 14th, however, that will be evaluated and re-evaluated each week that she is there. They can hold her for much longer than that, depending upon her progress. Meaning, if she keeps progressing, they will keep her there longer.

RuthAnne and Crystal will be spending the week with her starting this Tuesday.

ONE QUICK THING TO CONSIDER: It has now been a month since this whole ordeal began.

30 days ago today, it was questionable whether or not Rachel would live.
28 days ago, we were told Rachel would probably be a vegetable.
27 days ago, we were told Rachel would probably be on a ventilator (breathing machine) for the next 6 months.
21 days ago, they concluded that Rachel's 'swallow muscles' were so weak that she might never be able to eat on her own again.
14 days ago, we were told that Rachel would probably be stuck in the hospital in Iowa City for 2 - 3 months of pre-therapy, just getting ready for true rehabilitation.
6 days ago Rachel was still waiting to get out of the ICU.
4 days ago we didn't know if Rachel would even be accepted to Madonna for rehab.
3 days ago, Rachel arrived at Madonna for full rehabilitation.

And now, here we are...

Pretty amazing to consider, eh? We think so. If you ever wonder if your prayers are being heard, just look at the time-line listed above. Thank you for all your support.

- Josh