Count It All Joy

Good Morning Friends,

Another day at Madonna and so glad to be here. The staff, nurses, therapists and Doctor Zeng are great....easy to get along with and cheerful to boot. Plus our prayer was answered for a house to open up for us to stay here at Madonna, within walking distance.

So...............How is Rachel? Good question. I ponder how to answer. When people come to visit her for the first time, they tear up even though they trying to be brave, Then they tell her how wonderful she looks.

Comparing her progress from the night of September 6th (the ER and surgery) to now....Rachel is doing great.

Comparing Rachel now to how she was September 5th, just 3 days before her wedding -well, she is challenged to the max in every aspect. She remains cheerful. The nurses all remark at how easy she laughs and smiles. It's true. And she does continue to add to her bottle of tears that God says we have.
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." - Psalm 56:8

But, all in all, we have much to be thankful for.........her vision, hearing, thinking, memory, touch sensations are great.

She has movement and feeling in all four limbs, her heart ticks right along with blood pressure and rate being great. Digestive system is working and there is obvious progress in all four limbs. Oh yes, and her bladder is working great...no more, well, catheter or diapers.............I mean hey, life here is reduced to simple body function focus! Every lil' improvement in every lil' area gets praise!

On the flip side, she cannot do almost anything for herself. Watching her day by day, I realize more intensely how each day we are given is a gift. The fact that you or I can walk to use the computer, sit in the chair and get up again without assistance or fear of falling.....with that we can rejoice!

Rachel's progress this week is~~much more agility in her right arm!! Go girl! She stands and sits down with two there to assist her and that is getting much easier as each time she is able to give herself some 'oomf' to help get up and she doesn't just plop down......she is gaining control.

With each eating session (she says eating is just another therapy session) she uses her right hand as well as her left. She is still eating pureed foods and drinking honey consistency liquids. Have you ever heard of thickened water.....her choices are pudding, honey or nectar consistency, but hey, it is wet. They even offered thickened pop or juices. I have to tell you that the facial expressions of the therapists or nurses are not so convincing that thick liquid is so wonderful.........and Rachel? she is a good sport about it.

Her goal and desire is to have her stomach feeding tube out by the end of October. With this in mind she is very motivated to practice swallowing and I am motivated to massage those muscles that are important in swallowing. Lemon juice triggers swallowing too! Actually, that is what the speech therapist does....swabs the back and sides of her tongue and the roof of her mouth with tart lemon which stimulates her swallow reflex.

For those of you who have been praying, we covet your prayers for Rachel's swallowing, so that it continues to improve beyond expectation -then she can 'get on with other things' ... I just cannot imagine her predicament.

Continue to pray for Rachel's mind that she would be filled with continued courage, determination, and energy.

About every day we hear of some great story of those who have passed through Madonna and have walked out with no signs of having ever been in a helpless state. This is our prayer and vision for Rachel!

We are blessed to have this website that keeps all of you who pray informed so you can continue your prayers.

Today she has 2 therapies and 3 meals.....the rest of the time we will spend outside enjoying the sunshine today. Everyone else in town will be at the Cornhuskers game!!

With a grateful heart,

Crystal Garrison