Hello,
We are feeling very good about Ann's continued progress! She is walking pretty regularly with help from us or the nurses. But, we're mostly just there to help with balance and to keep her from running into the wall on her left side :). Her left leg is recovering very well. Ann's arm and upper body continue to need a bit more help, but we have still seen improvements even in the past 24 hours. If I had to choose whether I'd want a weaker arm or leg, I'd choose arm every time. That gets us out of the realm of wheel chairs and walkers. So, we're grateful that the leg is doing so well. The doctors feel that Ann will most likely have 100% movement in 6-12 months. This is such a relief, considering there was a possibility for paralysis to be permanent.
Because of Ann's way-ahead-of-schedule physical progress, we are expecting a MUCH shorter hospital stay than originally planned. The surgeon told us to expect 3-4 days of recovery from the surgery itself and then 3-4 weeks of inpatient intensive rehab before she would be released. Because Ann is moving her legs so well, she may be able to complete a lot of her rehab as an outpatient.
Aside from the physical recovery, Ann says that her brain feels "full" a lot and it doesn't have much energy to engage in anything extra, like lots of emotion or talking. The way she describes it, it takes so much thinking to get her left side to move and process what people are saying, she gets mentally fatigued very easily. As you can imagine, lots of questions and conversations get overwhelming very quickly. I'm sure this is frustrating for Ann, but know that she continues to correct me on facts and memory issues where I'm lacking. Ann still isn't feeling up to much in the visitor or phone call department. Thanks for your continued understanding.
We are still waiting on a recommendation from the oncology folks here regarding possible continued treatment. This may not be given for another 2-3 months. No matter the recommendation, there will be lots of complex decisions for Ann and Doug to make. This would be a great thing to keep praying about.
On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you so much for joining us in all of this. We are so aware that not many people have the fantastic extended network of support that we have. It has been such a lifesaver for us. Love, M
