UPDATE 9/9

Today was a great day! Michele and I headed out at 8:30 am to visit her brain surgeon and get her shunt adjusted as well as an x-ray to verify that we did the adjustment right. Go figure the doctor does not do the adjustment instead it was the PA, myself and Michele’s father had assisted to get the job done. Like I said before if I only had access to the machine myself this would never be an issue as it is a very easy process. The good news it is finally done and she is adjusted to 160. We will see over the next few days what this really means and if we are actually going in the right direction. Like I have noted before either direction is the right direction as it will not hurt her but we learn each time we adjust her and my hope is to make as many adjustments as needed to get through this learning process.

I called the hospital this morning to alert them to get Michele dressed in full gear for the first time and ready for her trip in the ambulance. When I arrived she was fully dressed in her workout pants, tank top and fuzzy socks. Michele was actually brushing her teeth when I arrived and was soon ready to hit the road. I have also included a few pics from the other day with family and Michele showing her wave.

When I returned to Kindred around 11am Michele and I spent some time reading emails. One in particular made a big impact today. Someone sent a song to Michele and I told her I would play it. I turned it on and within 5 seconds Michele started to wave her head from side to side to the beat of the sound and looked right at me and smiled. She knew the song and loved it. Myself of course took a few more seconds to even recognize the song but I do remember this is a song that she loved. Her emotions were something I have not seen to this date and I know she had no way of doing what she did before today. I do believe the shunt adjustment was already showing its results within 1 hour. I laughed at her and praised her for what she was doing then I asked if she could sign the song and I got a very sad face real quick. So I said lets work on that later lets just enjoy the song for now and she started moving her head again to the beat and grinning at me. I can tell you that this is the most emotion I have seen from my wife since January 29th before she took a turn to the worse. She has been able to tell me she loves me through her eyes but this is actually the first time since then that she has actually smiled at me and acted somewhat silly on purpose.

The other really good news is that Michele should be leaving kindred on Saturday and heading to Boulder Manor. I will have more on this once I get the final word but my sources tell me it will happen with any luck. I also added a picture of the 4 mile canyon fire we recently had to show how close it was to our house. The pictures I took are on the road back from Denver and are still 2-3 miles from my house.

I spent the evening today paying my respects to a dear friends Mother that passed last week. I participated in saying the rosary and at the end of the ceremony I made my way to the deceased to find that she was wearing a beautiful saint bracelet. I know Michele has touched so many lives during this tragic time but our family has also been touched by so many by the love, prayers and acts of kindness. Just to see someone wearing one of these bracelets is overwhelming.

John