I will out of town for the next two weeks, I will update then and
hopefully add an adress.

Dawn

Today was a good day..  I was actually afraid to go to the hospital
today since this morning was going to be the first time they did a
dressing change while she was awake and in her bed.  I made
arrangements with the Dr. on call to give her a sedation that would
also make her not remember anything that she may see or feel (after
talking to the psych team about the situation).  I wasn't sure what
I was going to be walking into though.  However..  when I got there
her nurse (Adam) was there taking care of her.  He told me that she
had her dressing change and all went well.  While she was shaking
off the sedation (lasting about an hour), he was cleaning her up.
He got the wash cloth ready to do her face and she was watching
him.  He held up the wash cloth and told her she should wash her own
face.  He gave her the wet cloth and SHE DID IT!!!!!!  He said it
wasn't a lame drag the cloth across her face either, he said that
she literally scrubbed her face!!!!!!  I guess if you want her to
respond you have to be a cute male nurse with a really nice voice
(and he has all that goin on!!)..  He thinks that she is just very
selective about what she does right now and he agrees with the fact
that she is processing at her own pace.  He also told me that a
number of Dr.'s have come over from the SICU unit where she started
and they are absolutely in awe of her progress..

It is a really good thing that I got to hear all that this morning
because the majority of the rest of the day was spent with her
having that blank stare (Rick knows how awful it is to see).  I put
a mirror up to her face today for her to see that she is still
beautiful.  She definitely looked at herself for the whole time I
had the mirror there.  Hopefully that will be somewhat of a comfort
to her.  Day by day..

Judi comes in tomorrow.  Marc and Ryan (Marc and Riss' friend) got
here today and are staying until Wednesday.  Sharon, Donny and Mom
are coming in on Thursday.  I just hope that Marissa's surgery will
be on Wednesday so that she is in good shape for Mom to see her.  I
know this is going to be really upsetting for her (Mom) so I am
hoping that she is somewhat with it and not in a lot of pain while
she is here.