December 14, 2005 - Early Afternoon

Kurt met with Baylor for about an hour mid-day today. They've set January 12th as the release date from Baylor. The plan is to send her to a home environment rehab (like a group home) on Jan. 12. She will then spend 2-4 months in the "group home" before she goes back to her own home and transitions to outpatient rehab. The goal is for Baylor to assist her in re-learning how to take care of herself and for her to be able to perform those functions with some proficiency. The home environment rehab will have a nursing aide that is available to assist her as she needs until she is completely independent. She's currently rating as a 4-5 on the Rancho Scale. The good news about her rating is that she's "officially" out of the coma. The less good news is that they don't want to remove her trach just yet as she is still fairly confused and may not be able to assist in her own care by swallowing when needed just yet. [She's refused to respond to her speech therapist at all so far.] The best news of all is that her therapists are talking about getting her back to her "normal" life and even being able to return to work at some point.

Otherwise, she continues to improve at a good steady pace. She now asks the nurse when she needs to use the restroom. (We believe that she even may be using it as an escape when the room gets too loud for her). She does tend to shut down a bit when things are too loud or she gets overstimulated, but the confusion diminishes and she is more clear and responsive when it quiets down. She is smiling regularly at people and appears to be in the "present" for about 5-7 scattered minutes in any one waking hour. Those "present" moments appear to be increasing with some regularity.