Bridget the Comedian!

Today was an action packed day for Bridget. Most exciting of all was that things continued to improve, slowly but surely!

In the morning, after Sheila and Jon arrived, I headed home for a shower, kitty visit, and a short break. On my way out Bridget was up, and I asked her if there was anything she wanted to say to the kitties. She said "Yes, yes - tell Koshka I say MROW!" and she smiled and giggled (it is priceless when Bridget entertains herself!). I then asked if she had anything to say to Maddy, and she said "No, nothing to say, just give Maddy some pets". So, when I went home, I did both.

Bridget also expressed an interest in eating this morning, so a speech pathologist came by to assess her swallowing. She is able to swallow a bit, but she is not ready for food just yet. The SP will come back tomorrow morning to assess her again. She is allowed to practice swallowing ice chunks in the meantime. Also, while I was out at the house, a physical therapist (or occupational therapist? I am unclear on the difference) came by to assess her movement. She even got to stand up for a bit - with help of course.

A great piece of news is that Bridget appears to be through the worst of the nausea. Sometimes she feels a little nauseous, but she did not vomit at all today! This also means that she spent even more time today sleeping, since she didn't have to get up every hour to vomit. She has been sleeping something fierce, I tell you! This bodes well for her recovery.

In the afternoon today she also regained some feeling in her right toes! One might have thought the feeling would come back top-down or bottom-up, but it might just reappear in patches - the spot she can feel right now is not the tip of her right toes, but the region where her toes attach to her feet. We don't really care how it comes back though, provided it does!

Another exciting aspect of today was that her youngest brother, Andre, came up to visit. He just came up for the day, and headed back just an hour or so ago. Bridget slept through most of his visit, but at the various points when she awoke she was super glad to see him. And Andre was also very happy to be able to see her!

Finally, just a little while ago Bridget had some fun with her right hand. Her physical therapist told her to practice looking at her right hand while she manipulated it (since it is numb right now, it's good to practice using it in that state). She started out with some finger-thumb touches, but then I asked her to give me the finger, and she happily obliged (uncommon for sweet Bridget!). We also encouraged her to do various hand gestures, which she performed quite well: the "West coast" rap sign, the "hardcore" devil-rock horns, the Vulcan peach sign, and my personal favorite, the "hang loose" gesture, which Bridget suggested herself and performed with a couple of giggles again :)

Bridget also got to practice manipulating a cuddly teddy bear which one of Bridget's internship friends had sent up to Bridget's room today. She squeezed all of his limbs, and sort of made him do the hokey pokey. A sweet and very functional gift!

I expect a much smoother night of sleep is ahead for Bridget (and myself) tonight, with continued improvements tomorrow. Bridget is such a strong girl, and I know she is just going to power through this recovery like nobody's business!