@Lev

hey Lev,

was just wondering how your friend Jacky is going, has there been much more improvement, i hope so.

my prays are still with you and yours

please let me know.


Alwayz Brooke

 

Hey Brooke...thanks for asking, that's really sweet of you.

Jacky has now been moved to a hospital nearer her home, which makes it easier on her partner, Paul. The last update I got she can now sit up for 2 hours (a great increase of the 55 seconds of before!), and has also had her "halo" removed and replaced with a neck brace. She is able to life her left leg up off the ground by 2 inches, where previously is was a very small movement in the toes. She is actually dictating messages now, rather tha her partner state how she is doing in his words. She's remaining positive on her long recovery road and hopefully able to accept visitors soon now.

My other friend, Ali, who's Dad unexpectedly died, has been headhunted and made a job offer she can't refuse. This will actually do her a lot of good - the place she, I and Jacky used to work can be pretty hard-going. So, when I fly to the UK in December she will be between jobs, which is awesome, as we get to hang out more and are planning to go visit Jacky in hospital together

Thanks again to everyone for your positive thoughts, prayers and well wishes. Please keep them coming, especially for Jacky's continued recovery.

 

Hope Jacky continues the great progress and when shes fully recovered drinks are on me

 

hey Lev that's great news I'm so glad to hear that, hopefully she keeps just getting better, like i said earlier my prayers are with you and yours.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend Ali's loss but like you said it should do her some good even though she will never forget her dad this new job might just keep her busy and might keep her mind off it for a bit, my prayers are with her also.

please keep us up to date with how everything goes.

Yours truly Brooke

 

Just an update that I will be seeing Jacky on December 28th at the hospital, and am so excited! I heard today that she is being allowed home for 2 days over Christmas to be with Paul, which is fantastic news and will really help her mentally, I'm sure. Paul hasn't told her I am coming over so it will be a total surprise for her.....his idea..but says he is maing great progress still and I will be pleasantly surprised

No doubt I will be brimming with news once I've seen her. Thanks again to you all for your prayers and positive thoughts You guys are the best!

 

Thank you to all who have asked about how my trip to England and seeing Jacky went. It has taken me until now to be able to mentally get it together to make a posting about it.

Seeing Jacky was one of the hardest but yet most uplifting things I have been through in a while. Seeing a dear friend, former boss and just helluvalady I so admire go through what she has and still is, is a very humbling, heart wrenching and emotional experience. Having to walk away again, knowing there is nothing I can do to take some of the burden of recovery from her shoulders, but pray, was even harder.

She was sitting up in her wheelchair when Ali and I arrived. She has a walker now and can walk very short distances with it. She was concerned about her facial scarring, but heck, I have wrinkles that stand out more! They did an awesome job of sewing her scalp back on (yes, that shocked and amazed me too). She has some limited movements in neck and facial muscles, but her speech is great now. It is easy to see that she has come a long long way already with rehabilitive therapy, but the road ahead still requires a lot of work on her part. But Jacky is a remarkable woman, and she will walk the full length of that road. She is already planning to go back to work part-time by August. She heads up the county's Education Department, and her focus for many years has been special educational needs. One of my last projects I worked on with her was to bring education, health and social services together as a one-stop-shop for parents with children with special ed needs. So to find Jacky in hospital conducting Performance Reviews of nursing staff who are caring for her, and developing their understanding of how services should dove-tail, while she is rehabilitating, just about says it all about Jacky. She is 150% dedicated to her goal in life, regardless of what life throws at her. I have so much admiration for her, in every way.

Thank you all once again for your prayers, positive thinking and support