Big Adventures, Stories and Updates

What a weekend. It's 12:42am on Monday and I decided to get a post in before bed.
I'll cover Frieda's progress today first. Wayne and I got to the hospital later in the afternoon. Many of Frieda's family had already visited and gone and young Nancy was coming back later.
When Wayne and I went in to visit, Frieda opened her eyes and almost immediately began gesturing. She was pointing one finger to the right and holding up her hand with all her fingers open. It was frustrating for us all because we couldn't figure out what she wanted. After a few minutes, we guessed that she wanted to be moved around a bit, so I got the nurse. She and a helper moved Frieda around in the bed and that seemed to be what she wanted. We named over several things, wondering what was familiar to her and she responded to each of the names and events we talked about. She looked at Gracie's picture that Gray and Sarah's daughter took, we talked about her cards, etc. I said a couple of funny things and we could see her grin from under the tape. That was great to see. Frieda was gesturing with her hand again in a few minutes and I asked her if she wanted us to leave...with that she gave me a big frown. Wayne handed an ink pen to her and she took it, finding her way to the "clicker" of the pen with her thumb. Immediately she began to click the pen over and over. I asked if she was glad to have a pen and she raised and lowered her eyebrows very quickly. That has come to mean "yes" to me. Wayne took a note pad out of his pocket and opened it for Frieda. She began to scribble around with the pen right away. Wayne flipped to a fresh sheet after the first page and she did a second scribbling. We were thrilled. We kept the scribbles, of course, because Mrs. Nancy will be so surprised to see them! Frieda wanted to hold the pen for a while and that was just fine. In the meantime, young Nancy had come in and set about massaging Frieda's left arm. She seemed to like that a lot. I was rubbing her back. We know it must get really tiresome to stay in the same basic position. Frieda seemed to enjoy the movement of her arm and the massaging. She seemed happy about her music and pretty content overall. She looked at us all and we saw lots of questions in her eyes, which is perfectly fitting for Frieda, isn't it? She looked a Nancy a lot, we sang some funny songs and she did respond to music. We did tell Frieda that we didn't have "movie night" on Friday night and she frowned. It was easier to get a reaction today, I thought.
Larry Walker, Jenny Hollowell and Sue Lee came for a visit. Larry was "returning" an M&M's "peanut guy sitting on a sofa" that Frieda had given to him when he had been hospitalized a few years ago. He had written his return date on the back and offered it back to Frieda. She recognized them and made a few gestures with them. Larry offered Frieda an ink pen with his company name on it (Worldwide Marine Training) and she took it immediately. She was perfectly happy clicking the pen and holding it. When she was through, however, she offered it to me and that was that.
Frieda Hudson is so strong willed and I know she will know exactly what she wants and needs through this. A lot has transpired since last Sunday night. For each and every moment...as well as each improvement, no matter how tiny, I am grateful. Frieda's family knows that she has the spirit and the drive to improve each day as well. Believing in Frieda has they do will have a great impact on her recovery.
I saw on the "On Your Mind" blog of the Pamlico News a post from Martha Myers. She had read that Young Nancy was asking for stories about Frieda and she pulled an OLD one from my website. I hope you'll visit there and read it, as it was truly funny and she only posted an excerpt! It was about a road trip detour we took at South of the Border. We were exhausted after a day of driving, knowing we couldn't make it back to Pamlico County, we stopped for an overnight there. Whew. Could have done without my visit with Pedro...but we made the very best of it! Where the energy came from, I do not know, but after midnight, there we were, walking around the 24 hour store there and snooping. Wayne was worried about us, but we took our little late night tour, went to the hideous hotel and came right back the next morning! Martha asked that I post some pictures, so I'll do a few...as they are pretty ridiculous. We had a blast being ridiculous too! (Think about Frieda's photo with the jester's hat on in her column! That lovely hat came directly from South of the Border! We were totally stylin'!)
Young Nancy and I plan to spend the night at the hospital tomorrow night, so I'll place either a late night post or a Tuesday post. Let's continue to pray for Frieda's improvement. She's such a trooper! We need to keep that energetic connection going!

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