Not where I EVER would want to spend my birthday. But Ray arranged for my friends to meet us at Maddox for lunch and arranged for my nieces to stay with Kinlee so we could go. It was so good to get out and try to feel a little normal. The balloons and flowers were from Val, yes Val the nurse. Also my friend Anji and her husband came to visit me also (such a surprise) so many tender mercies.
I put together a huge collage of pictures to help Kinlee remember and learn our family members. However, to this day (October 14) she still has trouble identifying some people by name or by sight. She is getting so much better though. But look at these pictures of her and how she was just break my heart knowing now how confused she was and didn't even realize it. She was such a trooper.
I'm not going to lie, December was so hard. All of the holidays were hard. But, I recognize how lucky we are that she is still alive even though it was hard.
The picture on the right in the middle is her "pic" line wire. It is really hard to see, but we were glad to get it out, one more step in her recovery.
My mom brought me cherry pie and pumpkin pie, it was so good and such a good feeling of home.
Christmas Day was really hard, being away from Jerika was excruciating. The nurses and staff really tried to help make things better and we were so thankful for all of them.
Shelby and family brought us Christmas dinner and Kinlee was even able to sit with us for a minute. Blake was really worried that she was struggling and wanted to take her back to the room though. But we waited until we all finished eating. This is another reason I can't believe he abandoned her. He was so good with all her care and knew so much about all her levels and everything. But, once again, I'm working on not being so angry and sad about it.
Look who came after Christmas. These visits literally gave me life and the mental push I needed to make it through the weeks.
Lyvi was such a "big helper" with everything and they were all so nice to let her "help". This little girl has been through so much in her short life. Ollie was a blast to have come visit too, he started calling me nana nel and boy does he love his Kinlee.
Nakia brought mom again and thank goodness for her and her willingness to help her big sister. I hate it when I need to be that one that needs help instead of the one helping.
Amazing visitors.
She really hated physical and occupational therapy, she would get so mad and swear so much. It is weird because after we moved her to the University she quit swearing and would get so mad at us for swearing. Maybe one of these days I can post the videos I have or at least a link to them. I have a lot more videos than I do pictures.
And this is how we spent the new year. She was having so many less meltdowns and we did sleep better. There was one night where we thought we would going to lose her when they were suctioning her out, blah blah vagus nerve .... it was the worst. We were so thankful she hadn't been moved to the other building during her stay here. They kept her hooked up to the ventilator at night so that they insurance would actually let her stay. I can't even tell you how many times in the beginning the Insurance Company just wanted us to give up and move her into long term care. They didn't even think she would get better ever. She was approved for Medicaid at the end of November because her and Blake were technically separated but we feel like the insurance she had, even though they were horrible every step of the way and wouldn't listen to any of her doctors, was probably better than Medicaid at that point.
