Hi Y'all,

Today Eleanore has been alternating from periods of fairly light sleep and times when she is able to respond to simple commands from both the nurse and me.  She is still not opening her eyes, although the nurse says her eyes are brighter and responding well when they look inside. 

She responded to Dad's voice and to his snapping fingers several times and to my voice sometimes also.  They told us to rotate her head from time to time to prevent her neck muscles from cramping.  She tends to keep her head turned to the left.  So I will place my hands on each side of her head and tell her what I am going to do each time before I start.  This afternoon twice she moved her head to the right immediately after I told her but before I could move it.  So that's encouraging. 

Also she is squeezing hands with her left hand when she is in that almost awake state.  I  had my hand on top of hers and she was squeezing my fingers, but after about 5 minutes of that, she suddenly took her hand out of mine, grabbed my hand, lifted it, turned it over and placed it on her upper thigh.  Then she proceded to examine each of my fingers and the rest of my hand up to my wrist for the next 7 to 10 minutes.  Then she was content to keep her hand on top of mine and squeeze it occasionally until she fell asleep again. 

They are going to insert a tube directly into her stomach tomorrow in order to feed her a more varied diet.  The tube through her nose is small diameter and limits them in what they can feed her.  The gastroentrologist, Dr. N, who will insert it, said though what they are feeding her is suppossed to be nutritionally complete, she is low on protein, and they want to do some supplimentation.  He also said she should be more comfortable without the nose tube.  The stomach tube is completely removable whenever they are sure she is able to swallow properly. 

Dad continues to worry about what to do for her, and we keep having the conversation about I don't know what to do either, but she is in the best place to help her now.  This afternoon he told me he thought that this hospital was taking very good care of her, so that is hopefully an improvement in his level of worry.  He has a hard time leaving her each time, even when he tells me it is time to go.  He gets to looking very tired.  He will continue to talk to her and stroke her legs and toes as he makes his way slowly out. 

So that's the way it is today.  Mary and Joan went back to Houston and Atlanta respectively.  I will be here with Dad until Oct. 26th when Tom is coming for a week. 

Our family really appreciates all the support y'all are giving us and all the prayers.  I tell her many times each day that all of you are praying for her. 

Love,  Anna and Dad