Kendra: She's a Fighter, Right?

Kendra continue to fight to recover.  She is amazing the hospital staff.  Last night's caring bridge update was so good that I'm just going to copy and paste it here.  In her sister Kinsey's words.....

The Dr. decided that she could try to come off of the vent by using a “trach collar” – looks like a cup that sits over the trach and has a tube attached with oxygen blowing through it continuously. Since coming off of the vent she seems soooooo much more comfortable. She has done well today. She is still having pain and nausea but we have made huge strides in communication. We found that she is able to use a letter board and point to letters to spell out what she needs done. We did try writing today as well and I was able to read that she wrote “HI” and then she started writing something else and the PT and OT were here helping us try to figure out what it was and she spelled “G-O-A” and the PT said “you aren’t telling us to go away are you?” and Kendra laughed and actually smiled! It didn’t seem to feel good when she did because of the pain in her tummy, but it was a huge step being that we could see the facial muscles working and her sense of humor coming back some more! She is so amazing to watch. She is very determined to get better and with a little tough encouragement she is willing to do things to make progress, even if it is uncomfortable . She sat up again today with assistance of PT/OT and tolerated it for about 5 minutes with some pain noted. She is so tough and is encouraging to watch. All the staff including the neurologist nurses, therapists, and other Doctors are amazed by her progress so far. Please continue praying that the Army and everything involved continue to cooperate with the needs of Scott and Kendra and family. Scott has been amazing with her and being so strong through all of this. I seriously cannot imagine having to make decisions and deal emotionally with everything. He has stayed strong for the kids, Kendra and everyone else involved. Please pray for rest and continued blessings! Thank you to everyone that is following Kendra’s progress and praying! By the way everyone that comes into her room notices her fun socks and makes comments about them!

Keep praying!