Thursday Evening

I just returned to the room after taking Marie, Nick's mom, back to Jen and Nick's for the night. She flew in from Australia late last night and we spent the day visiting Jenny together. What a great woman she is..Nick, Jen and Matthew as well as the rest of the family are so glad she was able to come.

Jen had a second surgical procedure today involving the changing of the bandages on her hands and legs..it went well. No infection and the doctor continues to be hopful that he will be able to "close" in about 10 more days. This is a complicated situation but one that we are praing will result in the best outcome for her long term. We pray that God will continue to give the surgeon the skills he will need.

Jen also was able to "loose" the feeding tube today and as long as she can eat enough to keep her calorie count up she won't need it again. It is amazing to see how much energy the simple act of eating can take but she tries hard to take more bites and we are hoping that every day will be easier for her. Don Bennett, a new friend we have met here..brought her a strawberry malt from the Highland Park Pharmacy..a local legend...and she was able to finish half of that. He has been such a wonderful, caring, spiritual person and we all are so blessed that he has made such efforts to help. Another one of those people that was heaven sent...

We still have one chest tube to get rid of and it appears she isn't quite ready to have that removed but once that is done...she will only have a few "tubes" left to shed...down significantly from the 16 Martha and I counted one long night several weeks ago.

We are continuing to investigate rehab facilities...having visited Baylor here. Randy, Nick and I are going to Chicago next Tuesday for the day to visit the Rehab Institue of Chicago and then Nick is going to a facility in Houston. This whole process is somehat overwhelming but as her situation is rare she will need the best facitliy to deal with her long term rehabilition. We are hoping that Baylor in Dallas will be the place she will go because of the support system that is already in place, but feel we need to investigate to be sure. We are all hoping...Jenny most of all..that she will be able to enter this phase soon but feel it will be several weeks down the road.

My sister Martha is returning on Saturday and will be able to stay for 4 days..she has been sorely missed. :>

I hooked up the computer for Jen to read some of the postings that are on the blog and she was almost speechless. I have promised to print everything and put them in a binder so that one day she will be able to read everything start to finish..and really see how many people were walking this journey with her. It will be something she can share with her grandkids someday...something to cherish.

Matt is coming back tomorrow and our dear friends Sharon and Glenn Ringler are coming from MD Anderson in Houston where Sharon has been having tests. She will also be facing a battle and as I said before, can use all of your prayers.

Good nite for now...we will see what tomorrow brings..I send my love and heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Marilyn