Thursday Update at 9:15 pm CT
It has been another great day! Heather stood for the first time for a total of 5 minutes with the aid of a therapist on either side of her and one in front, and stood freely without the assistance of the stand machine this time. When they told her they were going to try and stand her, she began crying. I knew that she was afraid of falling, so I said, "Why don't we pray and ask The Lord to help you." So we prayed, and then she stood up. If you notice in the picture, she is smiling, yet you can see the look of concern through her smile. But SHE STOOD! This has been a wonderful facility, and the nursing staff as well as the therapist have been extremely kind and caring. Dr. Khalil made it back over to see Heather this evening, and he is moving her seizure medications around a little bit. We are going to take away a half tablet and move the medicines to twice a day instead of three times a day. He will be very slow about coming off the medications for seizures, but felt like we needed to do something to try and wake her a little bit. Each session of therapy she has lasts for 45 minutes. Her speech therapy is pretty intense in having her name objects, put words into categories, as well as come up with words. She is exhausted after each session, and I really have to coach her into doing the next round of therapy, but she usually has to have a morning nap as well as a nap in the afternoon. Continue to pray that she will get stronger and stronger each day. She still has a long way to go, to get back to what her baseline was, before surgery. Just seeing her stand up straight today was amazing! She hasn't been able to stand up straight and tall in years. She always stood hunched over because her back muscles were so weak. We can see how much she has improved in other areas as well. For instance, she had a lot of muscle tightness in her left leg where her hip was replaced two years ago, and she couldn't straighten her leg flat against a flat surface such as her bed, but she can do that now, and is moving that leg all over the place. Everyone anticipated her recovering quicker, but we are thankful that she is making progress each day! More cards and gifts came in today! God bless each of you! You have showered her with God's love over and over again, and we have been amazed at how The Lord has continued to use His people to love on the Cape family! You certainly have each helped to "Bear ye one another's burdens."
"Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee:
He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22
Tonight we were able to go across the street to Vanderbilt to the 6th floor, where Heather was in ICU & Stepdown ICU for 4 weeks. We presented all her nurses with a card and a box of chocolates.
