Wednesday -

Kristi has had two really good days in a row - YAHOO. She sat in a chair for a few hours today which is really good given how weak she is. We got a few smiles from her and she worked hard to breath without the vent. Yesterday she pulled out her trechea tube just to see if she could breath on her own so her doctor decided to let her try. She spent 12 hours today breathing with the vent on a "Spontanious" setting. What that means - she breaths on her own but the vent kicks in when she needs some extra help. She is completely off of all sedation drugs which they were using to keep her blood pressure under control and her blood pressure remained "normal" all day. The next step is to put a collar with a plug over the treachea tube. This will allow her to breath normally and maybe start trying to talk. If she gets into trouble we will just hook her back up to the machine. Most likely it will take her a few weeks to get her voice back completely and to have the strength to swallow real food.

On the lighter side - she threw a pillow at me when I came in this morning and she was hoping for a little jello as her Christmas treat and while we won't make that, she has realligned her goals to a few sentences of convfersation. She continues to try and communicate by writting notes using her left hand so her frustration level is a little elevated. (Must be off of the vent to talk) It is awesome to see Kristi starting to feel stronger and to engage in life a little!

Steven is flying in so we will all be together for Christmas. No doubt in my mind that this will be our most special Christmas ever!!!!!

Our prayer is that KN keeps moving forward with no more set backs.
Merry Merry!!!!
Lots of love