THURSDAY, February 3, 2011

Charis has not been eating as much as they want her to eat. So they've been threatening her that she'll have to get enough calories or they will have to put the feeding tube back in. It hurts her stomach or makes her feel sicker, like she has an upset stomach so she doesn't want to eat. It takes her 20 minutes to get five bites down. She chews slowly, then takes a drink, and the food gets kind of cold. ; (

She had a visitor today, a big golden retriever, the therapy dog. Charis was so excited. He was a BIG dog. His name is Mouse. He came up to her and cheered her right up. The food situation is getting her a little down.

Charis ate pretty good on her breakfast, so Cassie got her Panda Express for lunch. Charis could only down one bite. So she needs to eat, because everything will heal faster. Without nutrients she won't heal as well.

Yesterday they took out a tube from her stomach. They also took out every other staple on her wound up her abdomen to her sternum. It's from the very first surgery where they rinsed everything out inside her and worked on her intestines. It's a cool "s" shape.

Charis has been doing her breathing exercises. She sucks air from a tube and tries to blow air in. It's really hard to do after lung problems (Lauralee didn't like to have to do it). Charis has been up to 500 on the tube. Today Cassie was helping her get it done and Charis got to 750 a few times! That's great.

She sits at an angle in bed for the vertebra to heal on its own. The docs will go from there, according to how it heals on its own.

Charis has feeling in her right leg now! They have her move her feet around, one at a time. Her right leg is a lot weaker but it's making progress.

Today Cass painted Charis' toes pink. Yesterday she got her fingernails painted. They've been washing her hair every day. Cassie does Charis' hair and washes her face a few times a day.

The visitors have slowed down some, but there's still a steady flow. Today about ten people came. One day there was about three. She likes to have people come. She's still not talking much, though. This experience has toned her down some.

It's okay with Charis to have her family go home at night. Cass comes at 9:30 am for the day and Chad comes after work. The siblings come when they can.

They have her drink Carnation Instant Breakfast. Three of those a day would give us enough nutrients to live on. She drinks them really slowly. Her food came at 7 pm and she almost has the drink done (it's 9 pm). It took her four hours to get half of one down today. She's still trying to finish some of one meal when the next one comes!

Cass says it would be nice to not want to eat (for us bigger types). But not if it hurts. Huh, Lauralee!

Love,

Suz Q