Two nice developments today.

First, Emily's doctor at Kindred said: "I think we're through with the vent." That's really great news. She been breathing on her own for 36 of the required 72 hours without any problem.

He also told me a story, and he's not a very talkative man. Seems one of his staff doctors was at a party over the weekend and met a women in her 30's with two children for the first time. When the woman heard what he does (doctor at a long-term acute care hospital that works with a lot of brain injuries), she told hiim she'd had a serious brain injury as a teen, spent weeks in a coma and months in rehab. There were no indications she'd ever had the injury. It's been amazing how many people I've heard of with similar stories. Our doctor proceeded to tell me he's not at all worried about Emily - if she were a middle-aged adult he'd be worried, but at her age he's not at all. Those were nice words of encouragement.

The second nice (great) thing was a visit from Dr. Yarnell. Dr. Yarnell is the neurologist that's been with Emily since the first day after the accident. He was thrilled with how alert she was and how well she followed instructions. Between he and Dr. Cilo yesterday, they've reduced all of her stimulant meds because at her stage she doesn't need help from stimulants and they may actually be counterproductive. He actually thought Emily had been at Kindred for a month based on her progress and was surprised when I said it had only been a week. He also expects her to continue to make steady progress.

Emily had good therapy sessions today, although she was a little tired during physical therapy. OT had her raising different numbers of finders in response to random instructions - which she did with no problem. ST continued to work on her tracking, her "thumbs up" yes, and swallowing. I'd mentioned that she liked strawberry applesauce, so the speech therapist got some especially for her. Next week they want to start on some real meals (well, pureed, but still).

Another thing Dr. Yarnell said to me today was important and I wanted to share it - he said in his experience patients with a loved one who can actively participate in their recovery and therapy do much better. I told him I was very impressed with the therapy Emily had gotten at Kindred, and he said part of the reason why the therapy had been so good is because I was there to participate. While this meant a lot to me personally, I think it's also important to acknowledge my boss, Steve Pearlman, Bob Hite and the Board at Metro Wastewater for having the family-friendly leave policies that have allowed me to concentrate on what's really important right now. These are the same people that hired me 16 years ago when I was 8 months pregnant with Emily. I owe them so much, thank you is entirely inadequate.