Mom continues to make slow but real progress. Today she was awake much of the afternoon. She listened intently as we spoke to her. She tried to mouth answers to our questions. It must be frustrating for her not to be able to speak.

She spent much of the day off the ventilator (breathing machine). In fact, her care team does not plan to resume the ventilator unless mom fatigues.

Some other small changes were noted today. First, her scalp staples have been removed. These were placed to repair lacerations or cuts. She no longer has dressings on her left arm. We can now see a long row of staples which were used to close her skin after her humerus (upper arm) fracture was repaired surgically. There is a small area on her upper forearm which will likely require a skin graft. This area was left open during surgery due to the risk of swelling.

Overall, she is doing quite well. We should not forget Bob. He looks great. He is walking everywhere now and we are no longer using the wheelchair to help him get to mom's room. His cuts and scrapes are healing nicely.