Tuesday, March 28

Today was the rehab team met to discuss Hannah and they decided she can leave a week early!!! We were both so excited-it's like being paroled and winning the lottery all rolled up into one.
There have been so many moments where we felt like this day would never come, but the end's officially in sight!  The last two months have seemed surreal in so many ways, so many days just blended together in sadness, but also joy. We have definitely experienced our lowest lows, but also our highest highs.  A true roller coaster ride.  And now we are looking at the next phase.  I can't even express in words how wonderful it will be to be at home, but we also feel some trepidation at leaving what has become our safe haven of sorts.  They gave me a book today about what to expect when going home, it said: "Expect the unexpected."  ha ha Not quite the reassuring words I was hoping for.  But I have been thinking a lot about when we brought her home as a baby.  She had her first heart surgery when she was five days old, and she was so fragile.  She was in the hospital for quite awhile, and then all of the sudden they said we could take her home?!!  I thought they were crazy to trust us and I remember just feeling terrified,  but we figured it out then and I know we will figure this out too.
Everything is so much better than we really dared even hope for.  When we first talked to the neurologists after they saw she'd had the stroke, they gave us a lot of worst case scenarios.  She could be blind, she may never walk, she may never talk.  And for the first little bit we didn't even know if she'd wake up.   I can't even tell you the gratitude we feel when we look at how far she's come.  Her eyesight continues to improve, she's walking, and talking and understanding.  She definitely has a ways to go still, and she'll need to continue with some pretty intense outpatient therapy when we get home, but I just feel so much peace now when I think of her future.  We have truly seen the hand of the Lord in her life every single day since this happened, and I know we will continue to see it.

I think us getting out of here is happening none too soon.  Apparently I am driving her crazy.  Tonight she told me she was going to pull the curtain down the middle of the room so we could each have our own space-ha ha She gets frustrated because she is still forgetting what happened 5 minutes ago.  This memory thing is really strange.  They have been so encouraged in therapy because her memory  definitely is improving.  Now she can mostly tell you what happened yesterday and during the week, and also the things I've told her the day before.  And her long term memory is great.  Today they decided in therapy they wanted to make cookies tomorrow and she said, "Oh, I have this great recipe, which she then rattled off without blinking an eye.  And it was a long recipe!  (Maybe we make cookies too much???)  Anyway, it's just the things that happened five minutes ago that she can't remember.  It's really maddening.  She'll order something for dinner and then five minutes later want to order something else because she doesn't remember ordering dinner.  Or she'll be talk- texting a friend and by the end of the text forget who she is texting-ha ha  (So friends, just an FYI-if you get a  text from her that doesn't really make sense you'll know she just forgot that she was talking to you.  Don't take it personally!)  Sometimes it seems funny, and you just have to laugh about it or you'll go crazy.   But I know it's so frustrating for her.  So I'm praying that with a little more time this too shall pass and she'll be able to look back on all these things and see the humor.  Right now she's NOT laughing.  If you are looking for something specific to pray for, that'd be a good one.  We appreciate all your prayers.  They give us the strength to face each new adventure.  We love you!