UPDATE 7/19

Below is an update from Cindy on her visit this morning. Brian, Alyssa, John and myself visited this evening. Michele’s eyes are open and she is aware. She could not move very much at all and her head was swollen. I asked my usual question if she loved me and she closed her eyes to say yes. This has always been my one way to see if she is aware. I can tell she is tired and does not have a lot of fight in her right now but the doctors and nurses are doing most of the work right now getting her better and in stable condition. The meds and operations just completely knock her out and it take weeks for her to gain strength again. Michele will stay at Swedish Hospital until she is back to the base level she was at before the bone flap operation. This could take days to weeks to get her at this level. I have a few pics of the kids while we were waiting for the operation to be done as well as a few of Michele from tonight.

John

“I arrived this morning to find Miracle Michele wide awake. She is still groggy, but responsive. Her left eye and left side of her face is not nearly as swollen as it was yesterday but the side of her head has expanded out a bit more than it was yesterday. Dr V came in and said that this morning's CT scan looked good. Ventricles are a little bigger and fluid looks good. The brain is slowly adjusting to its new protective space and that will all happen on its own schedule. She was lying flat this morning and Dr V said that he doesn't want to move her back to Kindred until she can sit up. He said that if she continues to progress tomorrow he'll probably hold off on another CT and just let the brain do its work. PT came in and Michele followed commands very well. She moved her head towards Johanna and then towards me. She wiggled fingers on both sides but not toes this morning. Johanna asked her to stick out her tongue. I told her to first open her mouth which she did, but no tongue action yet. Michele's left shoulder is very tight so Johanna worked on it and opted to let that arm rest flat on the bed without a pillow prop so that there wouldn't be so much rotation in the shoulder. Her right arm is no longer swollen. She went to sleep right after PT and slept through most of my visit. When I called Amy I put her on speaker and Michele opened her eyes. Whenever I'd ask Michele how she was doing she'd open her eyes. I debriefed Mom and Dad and am heading out. LLPP!”
Cindy