Doing Great

I had the opportunity to go and spend some time with Larisa today - WOW does she look great! It truly is amazing to see how far she has come in 5 weeks! She was sitting up and even bending forward. She said her back doesn't really hurt her that much, but her tail bone does. Yesterday they found out that she has a couple of pins or screws in her tail bone. Apparently it was pushed out of where it should be, not broken, but they put the screws in to help it stay in place while everything is trying to heal. Sitting in the up right position for any length of time, it gets really uncomfortable.

All of her wounds looked amazing as well. Her right arm only has a few scabs left as remnants of the surgery. I was so surprised to not see any red or pink where the incision is -- the doctor did a fabulous job. She does wear a brace on it and recently is doing a lot more with her fingers. She is able to lift her arm up and is even feeding herself.

The wound nurse came in this evening to check her foot -- Chantel stayed long enough to see how it was doing. She could not believe how well it was healing. It had changed dramatically, even just from 2 days ago. As a result, a skin graft will not be needed for her foot.

She is experiencing nerve damage in both feet, more in the left than in the right. It is painful and has a tingling sensation. The Doctors have indicated that it should heal on its own, but time will tell. Larisa's thigh is healing slow and steady. It is a deep and big wound. It is starting to itch, a good sign of healing. The drain and packing continue to do their job, which helps speed up the healing time. Her trach hole, looks pretty closed up and has healed nicely.

They have determined what was causing the nausea and throwing up last weekend -- one of the antibiotics she was on did not agree with her. They have changed her medication and she is doing so much better. Her appetite has not been that great, but today at lunch she ate pretty well and dinner she did great. Hopefully the change in medication, will help increase her appetite. Also, as she becomes more active the appetite will increase. They think she has lost about 20 pounds. You can definitely see it and feel it - now she just needs to eat for nutrition and to help the healing process.

Her days are busy with nurses poking and prodding as well as physical and occupational therapy. She does therapy for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. Right now it isn't that difficult for her, since she does not have any one limb that she can put weight on. The hardest part is just moving her from place to place. The have assured her that over time, it will get better and harder, and it will. The measured her leg lifting today and it was great. It put a little smile on her face.

Obviously, she would love to be home, in her own bed and her own things - but knows she is where she needs to be. Her sadness at times comes from watching all her friends move on without and wishing things were normal - I think a realistic thought for anyone going through this kind of trial. But, she is so grateful for her family and friends and the support they have shown her. It will be that support and love that will help the long days be bearable and will help her to push harder and longer to get where she wants to go.