Rehabilitation
Dear friends and family,
Thank you again for your care and attention around Marisa's recovery. We feel blessed in the midst of these challenging times.
Marisa has been feeling nauseous throughout this last week. This made it more difficult to keep her medication down but she has been able to stay on schedule. This weekend there was some improvement with the nausea but it is still lingering.
On Tuesday, Marisa will have her first follow up appointment with the surgeon since being discharged from the hospital. The time between the surgery and the follow up appointment is meant to allow initial healing to take place and swelling to lessen. We look forward to this appointment as further testing will likely provide more information on Marisa's vocal fold (cord) paralysis and hampered airway.
In the meantime, Marisa began speech therapy this week. It was helpful to launch this series of therapy sessions, however further speech therapy will be put on hold until the medical team can visually examine Marisa's vocal folds on Tuesday. Marisa had some moments of discouragement as she struggled to produce a vocal baseline for the therapist to record. At the same time though, under the direction of the therapist she was able to make some sounds that we had not heard since before surgery! I am in the process of "lobbying" for a specific speech therapist at Hopkins to take on the rest of Marisa's therapy. We believe she would be a great fit for Marisa's case, but she is booked for quite some time. When we were in the ICU this therapist was interested in being involved in Marisa's unique case. We'll see what happens.
Last Wednesday, Marisa started occupational therapy at Hopkins. With her left laryngeal nerve strained from surgery, she has less range of motion with her left arm and numbness on the left side of her face and ear. Doctors are hopeful that she will regain feeling in these areas once these nerves "wake up" over the next few weeks or months. Marisa is already ahead of schedule with range of motion and strength exercises! In fact, after this therapist read about Marisa's physical condition in the hospital and prepped for her appointment, she was pleasantly surprised to see Marisa's significantly improved condition walking into the office.
MESSAGE FROM MARISA (She's voiceless but not speechless...)
Thank you from my heart to everyone reading this! I cannot adequately express my gratitude to each and every individual who has supported us in prayer and in so many other helpful ways. I have been able to rest at home, see the kids, and just focus on getting through the pain and nausea while all of the daily housework and cooking has been taken care of by family and friends. So blessed!
Although I would love to be able to communicate more efficiently with speech, to call people, and to be able sing, I am hopeful my vocal cords will function again in time. With all of the surgical complications I realize the outcome could have been much worse than losing my voice.
Love,
Matt & Marisa
Thank you again for your care and attention around Marisa's recovery. We feel blessed in the midst of these challenging times.
Marisa has been feeling nauseous throughout this last week. This made it more difficult to keep her medication down but she has been able to stay on schedule. This weekend there was some improvement with the nausea but it is still lingering.
On Tuesday, Marisa will have her first follow up appointment with the surgeon since being discharged from the hospital. The time between the surgery and the follow up appointment is meant to allow initial healing to take place and swelling to lessen. We look forward to this appointment as further testing will likely provide more information on Marisa's vocal fold (cord) paralysis and hampered airway.
In the meantime, Marisa began speech therapy this week. It was helpful to launch this series of therapy sessions, however further speech therapy will be put on hold until the medical team can visually examine Marisa's vocal folds on Tuesday. Marisa had some moments of discouragement as she struggled to produce a vocal baseline for the therapist to record. At the same time though, under the direction of the therapist she was able to make some sounds that we had not heard since before surgery! I am in the process of "lobbying" for a specific speech therapist at Hopkins to take on the rest of Marisa's therapy. We believe she would be a great fit for Marisa's case, but she is booked for quite some time. When we were in the ICU this therapist was interested in being involved in Marisa's unique case. We'll see what happens.
 |
| The therapist attempting to record Marisa's vocal baseline. |
Last Wednesday, Marisa started occupational therapy at Hopkins. With her left laryngeal nerve strained from surgery, she has less range of motion with her left arm and numbness on the left side of her face and ear. Doctors are hopeful that she will regain feeling in these areas once these nerves "wake up" over the next few weeks or months. Marisa is already ahead of schedule with range of motion and strength exercises! In fact, after this therapist read about Marisa's physical condition in the hospital and prepped for her appointment, she was pleasantly surprised to see Marisa's significantly improved condition walking into the office.
 |
MESSAGE FROM MARISA (She's voiceless but not speechless...)
Thank you from my heart to everyone reading this! I cannot adequately express my gratitude to each and every individual who has supported us in prayer and in so many other helpful ways. I have been able to rest at home, see the kids, and just focus on getting through the pain and nausea while all of the daily housework and cooking has been taken care of by family and friends. So blessed!
Although I would love to be able to communicate more efficiently with speech, to call people, and to be able sing, I am hopeful my vocal cords will function again in time. With all of the surgical complications I realize the outcome could have been much worse than losing my voice.
...He is good; His love endures forever.
~ Psalm 106:1
Love,
Matt & Marisa
Marisa and Matt, the Webbs are lifting you and your kiddies up to the throne of Grace! Although we do not get to see you all often, we are uniting in prayer for you and confident our loving Father has you firmly in the palm of His hands.
ReplyDeleteMeant kiddoes 😋
ReplyDeleteYou are in my prayers...
ReplyDelete