Katie Update #24

Wow! I can't believe that it was last Tuesday that I sent update #23! Time has continued to fly by and God continues to smile on Katie's recovery and on all of us. Last Monday evening, she gurgled out "I love you" to the three of us. This evening, she was carrying on a relatively lucid conversation with us. She is now completely off of her Methadone and is set to receive her final dose of Ativan tonight. After this, she will only be receiving her regular anti-seizure medications, and all of these are administered orally (or, in this case, through her NG tube). Thus, her PICC line ("Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter"--the tube through which her IV medications are given) is scheduled to be removed imminently. Her NG tube will remain until she is fully ready to eat solid foods and take her medications in the typical fashion, but this should also happen soon as she is now swallowing regularly.

We moved out of PICU on Thursday morning. This was pretty difficult for all of us because we felt so comfortable there (it bears repeating now and as many times as possible how incredibly wonderful the PICU facilities and especially the doctors, nurses, and technicians truly are). We are now "on the floor," in a nice room on the fourth level of the children's wing of MCG and directly underneath the helicopter pad, which provides for some infrequent excitement. It took a little time to get accustomed to the lower level of care (not bad, mind you, just less frequent), but we are now pretty comfortable with it. Of course, this looks to be a fairly short-lived comfort, for we may be moving as early as tomorrow to an inpatient rehab facility. We have visited both Walton Rehab here in Augusta and CHOA in Atlanta. Atlanta certainly has a more tailored pediatric program, but Walton has some benefits, as well, not the least of which being its location. We are still a bit undecided, but I think we are still leaning towards CHOA. Obviously, a decision on this will need to be made PDQ. Either way, Katie will likely be in inpatient rehab for two or three weeks and will perhaps require some outpatient work after that. Only time (and Katie, of course) will tell us exactly how rehab will go.

If Katie continues to progress as rapidly as she has over the past week, though, rehab will probably tend towards the lower end of the estimates. Her recovery thus far has been truly remarkable. Just about every day she is making tremendous strides forward. Today has been especially exciting. She is now able to roll around the bed completely on her own, and is probably pretty close to being able to sit up without assistance. She sat in a chair for quite a while today, and even got the chance to spend an hour outside with Tedd and the family in a wheelchair. She is having a very hard time sleeping, which is exhausting the family. It isn't affecting her sense of humor, though. She said, "I've been in asleep for five weeks! I think it's okay to stay awake for a while now." Her speech is still slow and deliberate, but getting more clear on a daily basis. Her memory is still hit and miss. Her short term memory is actually surprisingly good (to me, anyway), though she does forget things that she said or learned an hour before on occasion and she does continue to get confused at times. Her long-term memory is full of holes, but this was probably to be expected. Her memory of people is quite good, but her memory of individual events is scattered. Doctors say that memory recovery happens over weeks and months. She is quite emotional right now, which is most likely just the drugs wearing off and the obvious emotional stress of coming to grips with her situation. We got a video tape from her friends at ASL (Aiken-Augusta Swim League) which we watched twice tonight. The first time through Katie cried the whole time and the second she laughed and smiled most of the time. It is hard for us to see these emotional swings, but we know that it is a necessary part of her recovery. Her emotions for the most part seem "appropriate," which means hopefully that this is not indicative of damage to her temporal lobe and is mostly just the drugs and her situational knowledge. Overall, though, we are simply amazed at her progress and overjoyed to see more and more of our Katie returning to us.

This will possibly be my last e-mail update as we will probably soon be moving away from this computer for a time. I will, however, continue to update the web site (http://katieyork.blogspot.com) regardless. We continue to marvel at the power of love and prayer and thank you for the role that you all have played in Katie's recovery and in the maintenance of our sanity throughout. Hopefully soon these updates will be coming from Katie instead of from me!

With gratitude and love,
Paul