Re: Please include Little Jo in your prayers tonight..........
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, this is the latest from the bedside of Little Jo;
Hi Marco & Karen,
You just would not believe it. If you saw her now, you would know she has been ill because she's lost a lot of weight and looks very drawn, but the look is more Puckish than illness.
Her recovery has been so speedy and complete that it has startled even the doctors. This girl has the constitution of an ox!
This whole ride has been far more dramatic and stressful than I have been recounting on FB, because I tried to make it easier for her extended family, and mine, who couldn't be here. The truth is that Jo's speed of recovery is simply miraculous. Pneumonia, a collapsed left side of her heart, four brain operations yet she is strolling in the corridors with perfect balance and coordination, plus no loss of humor. No voice, but still making us laugh. Mickey can't believe his luck. For a long time he was convinced that she had brain damage and it didn't matter how many times I told him it was the Morphine causing the hallucinations and confusion, he was still in high anxiety. She's now 100% aware and totally articulate. She even remembers 10 digit phone numbers with no hesitation. I can't even do that!
Yesterday we were walking in a corridor when a man popped out of a room nearby. He came over and stared at Jo in amazement. He said he was working in ICU when she came in and he had prayed for her that night because he didn't think she would make it. He said to her "You are truly blessed." He walked off still shaking his head in amazement.
Only one area has not returned and that's the one that governs swallowing and speech. Her vocal chords have been damaged, probably when she pulled her feeding tube out one night when she was still in a state of delirium. However, we are assured that this is unlikely to be permanent. This morning she is going into surgery to remove the tube, which goes up her nose and down her throat, to replace it with one that will go directly into her stomach. If I know Jo, that will be enough to get the swallowing muscles working and the voice back. Imagine having a tube in your nose and throat for six weeks. Would you not think it might stop you from swallowing and talking normally?
Once they have replaced the tube with one into the stomach she will still have to be in hospital but as soon as the vocal chords mend, they will remove that too and she will be able to go home.
Maybe even before Christmas, and I'd like to bet on that one. She's so incredibly determined that
I bet she's talking within two weeks. I told the surgeon who will do the operation that last night and he looked at Jo and said, "I'd certainly like to see THAT!" with doubt in his voice. He doesn't know our Jo.
In the grand scheme of things, the loss of a voice, even if it were permanent, is nothing. There are wireless microphones and she has a loud whisper anyway! Swallowing is rather a big loss because you know what a foodie she is but I refuse to believe that she won't get it all working herself, and in a very short time. She's astounded all the odds so far and she ain't about to stop!
Love Jackie.
Thanks again guys, the power of prayer is immense and we need just a little more??..Marco
