All you who know Julie's story, I just have to let you in on this. Joan has a sinus infection so this afternoon I went to see Julie alone. It was close to supper time when I got there so they got Julie out of bed and into the chair. When she was ready I asked her if she wanted a drink of water. I told her if she wanted a drink to nod yes, if not, nod no. Without hesitation she nodded 'yes'. I was stunned. I almost forgot to go get water. When I recovered I said I will be right back and I went and got water. Then I asked her if she wanted to drink it herself. She slowly took the cup and with my hand under it to support it, she raised the cup to her lips and drank. Again I was amazed. By then her dinner tray was outside her room. I brought it in, removed the cover and realised she was now on solid food - sort of, it was noodles and sauce, chopped peaches, etc. but no more pureed stuff. I put a tea bag in the hot water and picked up a sachet of sugar, trying to remember whether she took sugar in her tea or not. I said to her, 'Julie, I can't remember whether you have sugar in your tea or not.' As I opened the sachet, I said to her, 'tell me Julie yes or no?' She looked at me and in the clearest voice said 'yes'. I dropped the sugar into the tea and was flabbergasted. I didn't know what to do. She spoke and it was clear without slur or hesiation. Then she just smiled at me. A nurse came in just minutes later and I told her Julie spoke, she said yes. The nurse tried to get Julie to do it again but Julie just smiled, rolled her eyes and looked away. She wasn't going to do it for show. She finished her dinner. I kept dropping the noodles down the front of her and she kept laughing. I wasn't trying to be funny. It's not easy feeding noodles to someone. What do you use the fork or spoon? We then watched TV for a while and she laughed at the commercials. When I left she was back in bed, quite contented it seemed. Oh, the physical therapist left a note for 'the family' 'Please bring socks and sneakers for Julie tomorrow.' She walked the length of the hallway and back and she has been cleared to go outside for half an hour tomorrow. I should add, it must have been agonizing for Julie to do that. She cried when she got to the end of the hallway and then when she got back to her room. The PTs said it was really hard for her but she persisted beyond their expectations for her and the crying may also have been just expressing emotions she is unable to articulate. On the way home I kept turning over in my mind what I had just seen in the last two hours, absolutely incredible, the miraculous. Graham 4/30/2013, 10.04 pm
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
