Posted 11/25
It’s been a busy time for Jenny since our last update. She has been working in daily therapy with the help of her care team. Jenny achieved an important milestone yesterday by handling the introduction of ice cream which started her relearning process of eating. Jenny’s jaw has continued to heal well, and the completion of that surgery has allowed her to start working with her speech therapist in earnest. She has made progress in making various grunting and moaning noises - all of which are a blessing to hear! An additional significant milestone was the removal of Jenny’s neck brace with the next goal being the removal of her tracheotomy tube soon.
Additional CT scans over the past several weeks revealed that Jenny’s ventricles in her brain were enlarged, thus signaling fluid retention which the doctors felt could be prohibiting Jenny’s advancements in therapy. While Jenny had shown the ability to blink to yes and no questions earlier on in her recovery, that ability has recently disappeared which the doctors felt could be due to elevated inter-cranial pressures. As a result, the recommended course of action was one more surgery to implant a shunt device in Jenny’s brain to manage the excess fluid and drain it into her abdominal cavity. That surgery took place on Tuesday, November 20th at Froedtert. Jenny handled the surgery well and was transferred back to Sacred Heart on Thanksgiving Day. A new baseline for therapy was established on Friday and Jenny was back at it that same day.
Jenny and her family are so very thankful for your continued support which continues to be shown in so many ways. We will continue to post Jenny’s progress to this site as improvements in her condition occur. We wish all of you a blessed holiday season; we have a great sense of hope at this special time of the year.