Ready or not here she comes!

Well, tonight is Lara's LAST night in the hospital.  I know my posts have gotten farther apart.  This past week I have been a little more hands on with her for her therapies and with the chaos of getting ready for her to come home plus the holiday season it has given little for extra time.

This past week Lara has done some amazing things.  She is going up and down stairs.  Of course this is with a four prong cane, a belt, and at least one other person.  She is walking farther and her form is getting better.  Again with the cane, belt, and another person.  They still want her primary mode of transportation to be by wheel chair and only the walking for therapy until she gets more stable and focused.  But she is moving her left leg on her own.  Lara got casted a couple days ago for a leg brace for that left side.  We have to ease her into wearing it literally minutes at a time so she doesn't get sores.

Her left arm is also improving.  From her fingers to her wrist there are some major improvements.  Her left shoulder is still not really working.  Supposedly, as the leg gets stronger and more stable, the arm is soon to follow.

She still hallucinates, and her memory isn't always great.  She has gotten more impulsive.  She tried to get out of bed on her own on Sunday night and fell.  It really crushed her ego she said.  It's pretty frustrating for her.  She wants that independence and can see it in sight, yet still needs help for now.  But soon, very soon.

It's been kind of sad the past few days saying good bye to her therapists and nurses.  Lara has built such a repertoire with all of them.  She even has some patient friends.  Their conversations are so cute.  One lady a couple days ago in the dinning hall asked Lara, "I'm a new patient.  I'm in room 312, what room are you in?" (as though they were going to visit each other or hang out).  Another lady who also has had a stroke and is struggling with her memory was in therapy across from Lara one day.  She was actually playing a memory game with her therapist (but not doing very well), when she saw Lara she said, "That's Lara.  She likes bacon.  She has bacon on her hamburgers."  We all were so proud of her!  There are definitely some great people at St Joe's that we will forever love!

Now we are entering a new phase of her recovery.  She will be having PT, OT, and speech, but now all out patient.  There will be more responsibility at home for her to do her exercises and progress on her own.  Thank you to each of you who have prayed, hugged, visited, and supported not just Lara, but her family too.  Don't get me wrong, this is by no means over.  I will still be updating.  (Hopefully more consistently than I have these past two weeks).  Lara still has a lot for you all to keep up on!