Day 4: Getting Stronger

Ronda’s progress is expected to be quite slow so we are celebrating any progress at all and today was a good day to celebrate. At one point during the day, she opened her eyes and smiled at Amber! We don’t know yet if she can see but we’re feeling hopeful. Ronda also had her first round of physical therapy. She worked on sitting up and moving her arms and legs. She did really well, responding to almost all commands. This afternoon PT came back and they had her sitting on her own for a few seconds without support! They are also working on standing with support. It is a lot of work for her and it tires her out but she’s doing great and making really good progress.

The night nurse tonight was genuinely excited to see the progress Ronda has made in just 24 hours. That means a lot to me coming from someone who works the ICU floor and sees neuro patients regularly.

Ronda is doing spontaneous breathing right now which means the ventilator is helping her just a minimal amount and the rest is on her own. She still can’t lift her left arm against gravity but she can turn it over and her left leg is getting stronger. She is getting better at kicking her blankets off when she gets too hot. Her fever mostly stayed controlled today but it still hovered just under 100. She also keeps having trouble with her blood pressure spiking later in the day.

The swelling in her left eye has gone down a lot but it still isn’t opening much. In fact, both eyes are closed almost all day. She goes between being very still/sleeping and being restless. She is definitely not alert yet. She can communicate with really small head motions to indicate yes and no and she can raise her right hand pretty easily. She does this often when she wants someone to come and hold her hand.

Ronda had to have half of her head shaved for her craniectomy. The rest of her hair is a little bit messy, coming out of her head wrap. Tonight I asked her if she wanted me to braid it for her to keep it out of her way. She shook her head “no.” She has never liked braided hair! I don’t think I learned to braid my own hair until I was in high school, my mom never braided my hair. I also asked her if she would like her nails painted. She grimaced. I guess not.

I asked her if she knew where she was and she nodded “yes” but she indicated that she did not know what happened. It’s hard to know how much she hears and how much she retains but she does seem to appreciate being talked to and included in conversations. The nurses here are great. Even though Ronda looks unconscious most of the time they talk to her as if she were totally present. They believe she hears and processes a lot more than she looks like she does. They set a good example for us.

I’ll keep doing my best to keep this updated each morning, I think it’s good for our family to have a record to track her progress. I also thought it might be interesting for her to go back and read someday. I know it's a lot of detail so I might also throw in some “weekly updates” for anyone who just wants a quick summary.

Thank you to everyone for following along and for sending your messages and prayers. We love you.

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