Today was another good day for Raena! She is doing so well they didn’t even do another EEG on her. She is breathing over the ventilator, in fact they basically disabled it for 2 hours today so it would only breathe if she wasn’t doing it on her own and only supported her breaths and she did fine. The vent is currently set at 5 breaths per min and she is breathing around 11-12 per minute.
Her ICP level is looking good with everything still clamped down and the one time per day they are draining it, it is almost perfectly clear which is a great sign as well!
Nikki said she was up about 6 hrs straight today, unfortunately some of that time was spent trying to figure out what Raena needed to be comfortable but in the end, Nikki and Raena figured it out.
I just got done visiting with her for a couple hours and while I was there she ended up waking up. I was so excited as she was alert and able to communicate. I had told her right before she went back to bed that Nikki would stay the night tonight and Daddy would stay tomorrow night and she gave a thumbs up. Then I asked her if while I was there tomorrow she wanted me to read her Harry Potter, and she did another thumbs up! I love the fact that she has figured out the best way to communicate with us right now. She will also squeeze my hand to answer or blink, so there are a multitude of ways she can communicate until they extubate her.
They have reduced her medications again and she is on a good track to have them continually dropping them except for maybe the pain meds. They are not even using blood pressure medication anymore and she has that all under control now.
For the first time since all this started, I am excited to go back and visit and stay with her as she is awake and interactive. Ashlyn and Kaylee will be recording a video message for her that I will show her tomorrow when I arrive. Raena will be so excited to be able to see that 🙂
Looking forward for more good days to come…
Wow, such amazing news to read. Keep on going Raena….we are all thinking about you every day!
Wonderful! Will keep on praying! Now you know she is feeling your love for her.
Still praying for you and your family. Raena is such a little fighter! So encouraging to read your updates.
That is such great news Steve. So happy to hear she is making such huge leaps on her road to recovery. Keep it up!!
Awesome news! I’m so elated she can understand where she is and recognize mom and dad. This is the best news so far. Thank you as always.
What absolutely encouraging news. We’ll keep rooting and praying for on-going progress. What an exciting turning point!!!
This is the most wonderful news of Raena and your family ! I could cry my heart out …. I’m so , so thankful to God that your baby girl is getting stronger and stronger each day and that she has the most beautiful parents , sisters , grandparents , family members and friends and community standing strong by your side ! All our love and prayers each day for miraculous healing on your beautiful daughter Raena ❤️ I wanted to tell you that beautiful Kaylee and my daughter Faith and all the other beautiful girls were absolutely chrismatic and sensational in their show choir show last week ! I bought the dvd and can try and make a copy for you or let you or Nikki upload it sometime soon on your computer if you didn’t get a copy. One last thing I’m so, so happy she is able to communicate through squeezing your hands and giving thumbs up and through her beautiful eyes ! I love that you will read Harry Potter to her tonight and that she wants to hear it ! Ironically I was reading to my little one Harry Potter last night ❤️I also love that you will be bringing by a video of her beautiful sisters! I know they miss each other tremendously ! I know we all can’t wait for them to embrace and be joyous and free ! All our love !!!!! All our prayers ! Your family is so beautiful and so courageous beyond words! I know everyone loves the Chow family ! We do tooooooo! Oh and we are bringing dinner tonight❤️ I hope everyone likes chilie or I can bring something else if not ❤️ Will never stop praying for miraculous healing on Raena !
Xoxo Amber , Bone , Faith, Summer , skipper and Magic ?
This is the BEST news yet!!! She is such a fighter and to come back from all that she has been through and be able to do a thumbs up!!! EXCITING!!! She’s AWESOME and so are all of you guys.
We’ll all keep continuing to pray for full recovery and support all of you for whatever you need!!!
Thumbs up to Raena!
Wonderful news. Been thinking about Raena and the whole family. Hope she’s home soon.
Wow!!! So amazing!!! I love hearing all of this progress these last couple days!!
Such wonderful news! Go Raena! I will continue to pray for her speedy recovery so she can be home with you, Nikki, and her sisters soon. Thank you so much for sharing the good news and keeping us posted daily. I’ve been praying for you all ever since I found out and I’ve been crying tears of joy the last two days seeing that all signs are “thumbs up”. Hugs to you all.
Wonderful Update! Enjoy your Harry Potter time!
FYI: If she is going through anything similar to what I went through, even the simplest thoughts (and especially decisions) can be a noticable (to myself) taxing energy drain. A week after I got out of the hospital, I even noticed the energy it took to choose a dim-sum dish and consciously chose not to think about that (I knew there’d be too much food and that no one would order something I wouldn’t eat), when it did not matter. While I was in the hospital, closer to the time of injury, it was worse; and I deliberately thought about whether I _needed_ to decide about something before putting the energy into thinking about it. It was pretty interesting how the brain is able to recognize and prioritize, as necessary, even subtle changes.
Hopefully she doesn’t have any of these complexities, but I mention this so that you can be aware of such possibilities rather than jump to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong, if Raena isn’t responding as she used to. For me, this improved quickly but gradually (in an asymptotic way); I still feel my brain affected in this manner—some say it’s my age, but I continue to deny that (and anyway, the old-age thing doesn’t apply to Raena, yet).
I’ve been pretty optimistic about Raena’s situation and I think we are seeing that she’s on her path back towards normalcy… something that I’d expect (her lack of “age” will help with that).
Great to hear of her progress. Still sending prayers and positive thoughts her way.