Cheers!

This afternoon Cora's NJ tube got displaced so they had to pause her feeds for a couple of hours. I started to notice that the more time that went on, the more Cora was smacking her lips and starting to look hungry.

Six weeks or so ago I posted that Cora had been successful at drinking a bottle, but ever since, she seems to have completely forgotten. We have painstakingly worked with an occupational therapist in the weeks since, but no matter what tactics we have tried, she has never again been able to figure the eating thing out.

Well, today after seeing her look genuinely hungry, I tried again. And guess what, she did it! She didn't take much, but she showed me the most important thing -- she remembers how. And the second most important thing -- that she doesn't want to eat unless she's hungry. Can't say I blame her for that. At this point she will stay on the continuous NJ feeds but her success today will help us advocate for a plan in the not too distant future where we can more regularly work on eating by mouth.

Other than that it was a fairly mellow day. Jay took the kids on a hike with some friends, and Cora and I hung at the hospital. I gave her a bath and we had some visitors, and that was about it.

Cora's lab results are still looking good and infection-free so we are on track for the surgery, which is planned for Wednesday. Yesterday, Cora received a blood transfusion and that seemed to help with her breathing and her overall pep. I am very much hoping that after she recovers from her surgery next week we will be on a fast track to going home. She's shown us tremendous progress over the past few weeks and it's clear that she's ready to get on with things. Lord knows we are ready too.