Speech therapy

It's Diane now. Cheri, the cute little pregnant speech therapist, just finished working with Dad. She is one of my favorite people here! She took Dad through various exercises... counting to 10, saying the days of the week, saying "eee" repeatedly, at a higher tone each time. Dad hit exactly the same note she did every time, unless it was out of his range. So apparently he's ready for ward choir, even if he can't quite say every word just right. She also had him point to different things: a knife and a fork, etc. He did pretty well. She told him to wave and say good-bye at the end. He waved but wouldn't say it at first. She just smiled big and said she wasn't leaving until he said it too, and finally he did it. :)

Cheri used the little whiteboard Karen had brought in. She was so impressed with Karen's drawings, she didn't want to erase them and write anything else. I told her that Dad is an artist. She told Dad she would bring charts that already have pictures on them, because she can't draw like Karen and she doesn't want him judging her pictures. She's adorable.

In other news, Dad wasn't too hungry at lunchtime. He ate a little mashed potatoes and meatloaf. After lunch, I asked him if he wanted me to read out of the Ensign, and he said yes. So I read him a talk from the last session of General Conference.

They just told us they're taking him down for another CT scan soon. They gave him a dose of Provigil to wake him up before his scan, put it in chocolate pudding instead of applesauce this time, so I think he liked it better. They also said he would likely be moved to a regular room today, and possibly to rehab tomorrow. We'll keep you posted on when any of that happens.

The biggest frustration continues to be communication. I feel terrible when he's trying so hard to tell me something and I just can't get it. We'll keep trying and hoping.

I'll post again if there's anything new to report.