Four Months

What an incredible month it has been! Tania has now been at Craig Hospital for six weeks. Here are some month four highlights:

• Tania is now allowed to eat whatever she wants - no restrictions for nuts or other crunchy food.


• She has ridden in a car. The first trip was to McDonald's for a chocolate milkshake and the second trip was to enjoy the Christmas lights. We have plans to take her on a day pass to her house on Christmas day. This will be the first time she has seen her home since August.


• We have a planned discharge date. At the second family conference Dr. Weintraub indicated that he expects to discharge her either January 22 or 28. So, just over a month from now she will be coming home. The therapists and doctors also indicated that they feel her house will be the best place for her to continue recovery.


• She laughed...like a real belly laugh. I have to explain that I was trying to help her eat some spaghetti by feeding her with my left hand. The result was spaghetti noodles all over her face and shirt. But the best outcome of this comical situation was that she laughed. I hadn't heard her laugh in months. It was wonderful and if it takes a spaghetti mess to make her laugh, I'll do it again :)


• She started to read. She won't be reading Pride & Prejudice any time soon, but she is starting to read some large font children's books. Her therapist suggested that we bring in Christmas books to acclimate her to the season and she reads some of the pages.


• She upgraded her wheels. Her first wheelchair was more high tech and had a tilt feature. Her current wheelchair is more basic and has the ability to fold up and fit in a car trunk.

Her progress over the last month as been miraculous! We continue to be so thankful for the support of family and friends around us. We wish all of you a wonderful Christmas.

Tara