Update 11/9/2012 By Michelle

Today is our second day here at Craig Hospital. It has been a little crazy trying to get settled in. My mom is getting lots of attention from the different teams here. Everyone is doing initial assessments this week and next. We will have a family meeting with all the doctors, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, RNs, etc in a few weeks to get a good idea of what the game plan here will be. We have no idea yet how long she will be here or what we are working towards, besides taking her home. They are repeating all of her initial tests and scans again here. She had a cat scan yesterday and will do an MRI on Monday. There are several other tests being done today (like an iron test and eye exam). She is happy and awake for much longer periods of time now. She smiles when funny things are said and still gets emotional. She seems to be in less pain now. She does have thrush in her mouth and we think that has been some of the cause of pain for her. The heavy duty antibiotics she has been on for the spot on her lungs has killed all the bacteria in her body, so she got thrush. It looks painful for her to swallow and she clamps her jaw shut anytime they try to brush her teeth or stick anything in her mouth. A little more about her day here. She will have three hours of therapy daily. She has speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Most days it will be split into two half an hour sessions. Her schedule is pretty booked, just the way she likes it!! For the most part, she gets to have the same rotation of nurses, techs and therapists. I am glad she will get to work with familiar faces each day. We have meet them all and everyone has been really nice. Mom has shown off her personality to most of them and they already know she is a character with a wonderful sense of humor. This afternoon, she will get to sit in her new wheelchair for the first time. This is an exciting thing for us and her. She has been in a hospital room for almost 9 weeks now. She needs to get up and out. There are daily activities here that I know she will love. On Tuesday, they did mani's and pedi's. We missed that, but look forward to some of the other things they do for their patients. We are also ready to meet some of the other families and patients here. My mom also got a huge smile on her face when they told her they have a computer that she can use to communicate with. It reads eye movements. We are working with getting her eyes strong enough to be able to use that machine in the next few weeks. I cannot wait to give that skill back to her. It has been so tough trying to decipher the grins and frowns, the tears and the eye rolls. I want her to be able to tell us what she needs so we can help her as much as she needs. My dad and I were in the apartment building owned by Craig while my mom was in the ICU, but they have others that need that room. We are now living in my mom's room with her. There is a very small loft area with a mini fridge, sleeper sofa, small table and chairs, and a microwave. Thanks to my aunt and uncle we also now have dishes, silverware, a toast-r-oven, food, storage drawers and many other little things to make this loft more home like. They also bought a cute table cloth for the table. We are feeling way more organized here and settled in. I am so excited that I no longer have to carry a fifty pound pack around with essentials. I have a home away from home now.Upd