Drumroll, please!

*Reads from scroll*
"The Maiden Noelle hath officially eaten her first meal since the fateful 20th of September. Moreover, she hath enjoyed it immensly."

Translation: Noelle had a swallowing test this afternoon, and was cleared to start eating, so she got to have some supper tonight. So I got to eat supper with her. Woo hoo!

But this is awesome, no?

Picture this scene: Noelle has just gotten out of her wheelchair to practice walking down the hall. Her therapists are holding her gait belt, but are hardly having to support her at all.

Therapist-who-is-helping-Noelle-walk: "Wow, Noelle, are you feeling strong today?"
Noelle: "Maybe I'm happy."
Therapist: "You sure are! Here, let me pull your pants up a little higher. Don't want them falling down and mooning Camille, do we?"

A little later in the session, Noelle is on a mat working on leg and gluteal muscles...

Therapist: "Oh I know what you are doing. You're working on your buns of steel so you can hold your pants up!"

And Noelle laughed! Not just smiled, she actually laughed with voice!

Another fun fact about Noelle's progress today...she walked 150 feet. Significance? The therapists had set that as a long-term goal for her to reach! Now they have to figure out a new challenge for her to shoot for.-Mitch

Not much is new today, but Noelle is whispering louder and more frequently. It is good to hear her talking again.

This morning in the school room she turned to me and said "This is the room that bothers me the most."

Me: "What bothers you about it?"

Noelle: "It's just that I can't see!" (She's having trouble seeing the words the teacher shows her.)

Then later I was humming a song. I saw her saying something, so I stopped to ask her what she was saying, and she told me she was just mouthing the words to the song.

I guess I posted too soon in the day.

Noelle is officially talking with voice now!

We celebrated by going out for dessert (went to the vending machines to get candy), then I let her call home. She was so excited! It was good excercise for her vocal chords. She was smiling so big the whole time and practically squirming out of her chair. She talked for quite a while, and is now very anxious to see Mommy and Daddy and Matthias tomorrow.

Matthias got to see Noelle today for the first time since the day of the accident. The last time he saw her was as she was being wheeled to the LifeWatch helicopter. He was not allowed in the ICU due to his age.

We had to celebrate his 7th birthday without Noelle. They were both very excited to see each other. He climbed into her bed and she must have hugged him about once every 3 minutes!

Yesterday was the first day she spoke with her voice (she had been whispering for 2 days previous). She joked that she had just learned to talk, and now she can't help but talk!

She knows that she was in a car accident, but she can't remember anything about it. She must have heard nurses or other staff talk, because we have never mentioned the accident in her presence, not even when she was unconscious. Anyway, she asked us about the accident, so she now knows that it happened at the same intersection that her friend, Nathan, had an accident not very long before hers. She mentioned receiving a get-well card from him recently.

Noelle does not remember her first few days at Madonna, nor does she remember being in ICU at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

She says she is very grateful to be at Madonna, but she looks forward to coming home. She understands that she can't come home until she learns more things.

Noelle's speech is slow and deliberate. The tone of her voice sounds much younger than her 18 years. She called home yesterday (her first day of speech) and I thought it was a little child at first! Today her voice is noticeably stronger than it was yesterday. The nurses aid said it was stronger than when she came on duty at 3 pm.

The most beautiful detail is that she smiles wide the whole time she is talking! She is obviously enjoying her new-found ability!

The patients don't always get therapy on the weekends here, however, Noelle had 2 sessions. She worked on reaching with her right arm (has a long way to go) in one session and worked on walking and doing stairs in her other one. That was the first time she tried stairs and she did very well, especially going up.
Mitch, Matthias, Camille and I were all here most of the day before the other 3 left.
At one point Noelle woke up from a nap and whispered to Mitch. He said,"Did you forget you can talk?" She said, "Yes!"
We walked around this evening. She likes to push the elevator buttons. We ended up near the piano and she wanted to doodle on it. She played around very slightly with her good hand and expressed her concern about her bad hand not working yet. I told her it would improve and she would remember how to play again. She seemed to enjoy the piano visit.
-Michelle

Today is the first day since the accident that Noelle has worn her own clothes! She was happy to wear her favorite skirt today (no therapy classes). Cousin Jeremy and family came to visit. We walked them out to their truck (Noelle in wheelchair) and then wheeled around outside for a while. We really enjoyed that. We watched "Jane Eyre" and she took a nap. Grandpa and Grandma Asher came to visit and brought Erica and Calista along. It was a much anticipated visit! Working on the right arm even on days off.

Grandpa, Grandma, Erica and Calista got to sit in on some of Noelle's therapy today. She had therapy from 9 - 2 with an hour break for lunch and then another session at 3pm. She is working hard trying to loosen up that right arm and shoulder and increase her stability, form and stamina when walking. Reading is hard for her. We hope to get new glasses for her soon. That should help. In speech she worked on divided attention (multi-tasking) and did just fine. She had to sort a deck of cards into suits while listening to Esther spell 4, 5 & 6 letter words to her. She had to tell Esther what the words were.
Noelle wants to come home! She also wants to take her neck brace off. She'd like to be able to walk without help. She would like to progress faster than she is!

Noelle was extremely excited to see us! As soon as we appeared in the doorway, she stood up and took a couple steps towards us with a huge grin on her face, and reached towards us for a hug. Made my dragonish little heart happy. She talked. And talked. And talked. Pretty much the whole time we were there Sunday evening. XD Since she was doing therapy Monday morning, she didn't talk as much.

She told us all about her feeding tube and how annoying it was, but that they couldn't take it out yet, etc, and explained that Matthias had 'had sugar the morning before he visited her' and that he was 'practically bouncing off the walls'.

During the lunch hour on Monday, we were all in the cafeteria. Noelle was sitting in her wheelchair watching ussince she already ate in her room with the speech therapist when she suddenly took off her neck brace. I told her that she was being very naughty, and she just grinned and said "I know!" So, since she's not ready to have her brace off, she was sitting there holding her head still by propping her head on her hand. She is so beautiful! :')

Today Noelle worked on vocal range and strength. After the therapist left she tried it out by singing a song! She did pretty good, but has a ways to go.
She also worked on hand strength and coordination by opening different kinds of containers and doing and undoing buttons. They gave her some Theraputty to play with in her down time. Her left hand tries to compensate for her right most of the time, but the right is improving.
She played a couple of card games. She did fine at that!
A Nebraska Senator came by for a tour while Noelle was on the treadmill. He happens to know Mitch so it made the visit more interesting for him. She worked on walking form today, trying to get her hips to move in a more natural way.
She also had a good talk with family at home this evening!

Last weekend I went to Lincoln for the weekly shift change - dropped Erica off and brought Michelle back home.

Noelle is a joy to be around! She has a childlike innocence about her, and she is very affectionate. She likes a lot of hugs and seems to enjoy putting her head on the shoulder of a family member who is close by, as seen in the picture of her and Erica by the fish tank.

The whole family
has pulled together as a team to get her back into a normal life. Noelle has really bonded with her mother and sisters throughout this process. Everyone seems to have a deeper appreciation of all the others - it has been a good time for our family. Calista and Matthias are anxiously waiting for the day she "graduates" and can come home. We'll plan a big party for that day!

Sorry for the updates being few and far between. It's perfectly explanatory, if I felt like explaining it. But I don't. Sorry 'bout that.

OK, so Noellie got her collar off yesterday and she's quite pleased with that. She was getting tired of it and was anxiously looking forward to the day that it could be removed for more than just a shower. Now she can wear her hair any way she wants, and this morning I treated her to a french braid. She liked that.

Noelle never ceases to amaze us! And why not? She keeps exceeding her therapy team's expectations.

I got up there this weekend with a camera to take pictures of her without her neck brace...only to find a dead battery in the camera and no charger! So...we'll get pictures later this week.

She surprised Michelle and me by tying her shoes. It was a little clumsy, but they were done correctly and they stayed tied as we walked around the hospital grounds.

She is still not allowed to walk by herself. She has to have someone walking alongside her and holding her "gait belt". She attempted to run a little while Erica was walking her, but gave up early. We were glad she didn't fall down in her attempt. Her motivation is so strong that her therapists have to keep throttling her back!

Keeping in mind that her right side was almost completely immobile when she arrived at Madonna a month ago, she played a "slow" version of one of her favorite piano pieces for the first time this weekend. She had been struggling through simple major scales earlier, but utterly impressed us with her first attempt at a song! The song was "Most of the Time" by Glad.

She is anticipating my trip back to Lincoln mid-week and bringing her favorite electric guitar for her to have for the rest of her rehab. Michelle is staying with her until I bring Camille up, then Michelle and I will head to Topeka for my first interim committee for 2012. I should have several more committees in November.

Perhaps Camille can give us her dramatic updates when she's up there! )