Good morning faithful family, friends, and followers. Joy and I wish you a blessed and happy Easter and thank you once again for your fervent prayers and support.
Yesterday had its challenges from a care perspective and initially from a cognitive/aphasia perspective. We are still in the ICU and unfortunately, since we’ve technically been transferred off the unit, we seem to be having a bit of trouble with coordination of care here. We didn’t have PT or OT, and no walk yesterday, however, I was just assured that PT had her on the schedule for today. And, while I’ll share some cognitive/aphasia victories that happened later, the day started with Joy at first, telling the nurse my name was mercy, which I’ll take as a name any day, but not an hour later she looked me square in the face and with a worried look said, “Who are you?”
Fortunately, the day eventually provided renewed hope regarding Joy’s cognitive/aphasia challenges which came through calls to our children that felt nothing short of miraculous.
Let me preface this by saying, just as Joy didn’t recognize me at one point yesterday, it was unclear to me, when I would show her pictures, if she was registering with who our children and grandsons are and her role as mother and grandmother. So when I suggested we FaceTime Alyx and Ethan, I must admit, I had low expectations when starting the call. However, the experience that followed blew me away this resurrection weekend.
At the start of the call Joy gave a hearty wave and then spontaneously asked how graduate school was going for Alyx. She made several observations and asked a couple of questions but then commented on the sweater Alyx was wearing, which I feel she was her connecting to the fact that Joy, Alyx, and Ethan all knit, so a common topic of our conversations is their current knitting projects. Joy expressed her love and after to call ended, started crying saying, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Since it clearly meant so much to her, I asked if she felt up to call Marc and Caitlyn and she indicated she was. When Joy saw Marc she immediately burst into a big smile and reached out to touch his image on the screen. She then started crying and immediately apologized that we weren’t there to watch the boys, to which Marc assured her they were doing ok. Next after Liam said a quick hello and Caitlyn and Revan joined the call, Joy asked Caitlyn about her current health issues and then went on to ask about Caitlyn’s sister’s and brother’s health issues. She blew Revan a kiss at the end of the call and while tearful she was clearly happy afterwards again thanking me over and over for the calls. I told her I was the one who was so thankful that she had done such an amazing job and clearly connected well and understood so deeply.
To know that those details which came out in the calls are still there and accessible to Joy was again miraculous and encouraging beyond words. I pray that as we are hopefully able to transition to inpatient rehab in Minnesota that the complexities of Joy’s cognitive/aphasia struggles can be better understood and that guided by therapy Joy can have more and more access to specialized services for her aphasia and many other challenges.
Please continue your earnest prayers for Joy’s healing of body, mind, and spirit and know that we don’t have words to express our deep appreciation and gratitude for those faithful prayers. We again wish you a blessed Easter as we continue to live in the hope of resurrection and renewal. He is risen!
