January 30, 2006 - Late Evening

What a difference a month makes! Now that the princess is settled into her digs and able to receive phone calls (see blog entry below for the phone number and instructions), Brenda rang her up and had nice chat with her this evening. After saying hello, Brenda asked if Kurt was with her and Mandy responded with a resounding yes and a note that he was "hot" and then that he was "sexy". They spoke on the phone for about 5 minutes and Mandy was able to track with the entire conversation. She was able to answer questions about recent history (what did you have for dinner? did you get sick today? did you have therapy?), current items of interest (I sent you a letter) and respond appropriately to questions about future plans (what are you going to do tonight?) [The anwer for those were: something cold (yogurt per Kurt), yes, but feeling better, some therapy, oh good! and watch TV and eat grapes. Specifically, she was going to be watching Channel 8 tonight for anyone in the Dallas area and knows what happens to be on Channel 8 and is looking for something interesting to watch.] The concepts still need to be kept fairly simple and straightforward for her to track, some of her words are still jumbled and she isn't initiating much of the conversation, but the entire conversation was a big advance from only a month ago. (When told that Brenda's dog sent her doggie kisses, Mandy responded in true Mandy form,"Send pictures!")

She is a little under the weather again and having trouble keeping food down. We're not sure if it's pancreatitis or a flu bug, but either way, they're keeping a close eye on it. Otherwise, the princess is all settled into her new royal apartment at CNS and is ready to receive visitors. Don't be put off by the "picture" thing described below, visiting is really easy. [We discovered that you can guarantee seeing her in the day visits by coming around lunch time from 12 to 1 when she eats in the cafeteria with everyone else.] It's quite amazing to see how much progress she makes even between the shortest visits. If you run into any problems scheduling a visit or finding the location, feel free to give Kurt a shout (and he'll either direct it to the appropriate minion or help you himself).