More Miracles – Day 5

Jessica Buikema and her Mom arrived from Colorado.  Jessica is Carly’s close friend in Fort Lauderdale and happened to be visiting her Mom in Colorado.  They drove 14 hours to be with Carly.   Carly reacted wonderfully smiling and waving her hand!

Carly had a great night last night, and the nurses said she was able to rest. At 11:00 AM this morning,  right after the neuro team had made rounds, the physical therapists came in to evaluate Carly. The intention was to help her sit up and swing her legs around and dangle them off the bed, and test some of her motor functions. When Heather the PT asked Carly to raise her arms she immediately recognized Carly’ extension and hand form as that of a dancer.  Turns out Heather is a dancer as well.  That queued Heather to know she could push Carly a bit and she asked Keith who is Carly’s nurse to get her unplugged to “travel”.  They decided to see if she could walk a few steps. Guess what? She walked an ENTIRE lap around the shock/trauma ICU!  Amazing how God appoints just the right person at the right time to care for Carly.

She walked with great assistance, but her legs were working just fine! She has equilibrium issues, and still cannot hold her head up without assistance. It also looks like she is having slight trouble with her left side, but everyone is amazed! The neuro team said she is making stellar progress, but said that we still have a very long road ahead of us. She still isn’t really talking, but she is doing much better with swallowing and coughing up the mucus in her throat. Once she has that down, she will probably move out of ICU.

Keith, one of her nurses that have been with her for several days now, said that you hardly ever get to see something like this happen, but that THIS is why they do what they do. He has been a shock/trauma ICU nurse for thirty years.

Please pray for continued progress, Carly’s comfort and frustration with not being able to communicate, and for wisdom as we make decisions for the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *