January 10, 2006 - Late Afternoon

Blogger is giving us fits with pictures again today, so we'll just have to settle for a narrative. The following is an excerpt from Shannon and her observations from the marathon walk on Sunday!

"Well, Mike and I went to visit Amanda on Sunday. We had slotted the 2-3 but no one else was scheduled until 5:00 so we hung out until then. When we arrived Mandy was doing her marathon walk. She was actually at the elevators waiting to go down. We got to see the tunnel underneath the street between the buildings. She walked almost all of the tunnel that goes down and then back up on a pretty good slope. Kevin was walking in front of her and she would often smile at him. (so nice to see that smile). She was talking a lot even though her words don’t always go together to make a good sentence she is clear in her speech and doesn't make up too many words. Although, Mike and I both think she might be melding medical terms to come up with new words all together. After the adventure in the tunnel we stopped so Kurt could have a drink and he shared it with Mandy. We headed back to her building and went outside and sat on the benches out of the building. I know some of you think this might be crazy but living in Dallas we had a beautiful day between 70-80 degrees and it was so nice. Amanda talked a lot while we were out here and even spoke on the phone to someone named Pat. On our end it seemed she was answering questions and keeping a very good conversation.

Kurt and Kevin left to get a bite and we are pretty sure Mandy thought she was going to go to quote "Okay, I'll ride with you" to Kurt… After she left she asked Mike if he had a tire and he said do you need a tire and she said "yeah, we can throw it at Kurt" (or something there of). When she was picking at her eye (still a few stitches) I stopped her and told her she couldn't do that or Kurt would get mad at us and not let us come back to visit she said "he can be so sh*tty". For those of you that know Mandy that was so perfect of her to say. At another point when she was telling one her stories very intently she looked at Joyce and said "Do you disapprove?" with a totally sassy Amanda voice! We eventually went back up to the room for her dinner and we were flipping through magazines together and she pointed out a cooking piece she liked. She had fish for dinner which she tried to feed to me and to Joyce. She was feeding herself, and appears to really like the cabbage in her salad. When we left she told us to "have fun" and said good bye and gave us a wave.

Last night she called me again. T'Ann is so great to help her in that! She spoke very quickly and had a lot to say to me, but eventually she started talking like she was leaving a voicemail on a machine and left me her phone number (which by the way was darn close) and told me to call her back sometime so we can discuss it! Then said good bye and hung up! The best treat is seeing her name on that caller ID!

Thought I would let you know how the last visit went and my latest phone call. She is doing awesome and with the trach out her speech is so clear. Now, to get the feeding tube out. Next thing for everyone to pray for!

Oh, and she gave Joyce a big hug. Joyce was helping her stand up and she just stopped and hugged her. It was so sweet.
Oh, and she kissed Kurt on the elevator, it was the sweetest thing!!"