Jan. 27, 2009

Didn't realize, traffic starts at 2 in Hwy 4. Next time we know to eat on the road on the way to Emerald Gardens. It was such an awesome feeling when Anicia greeted us with a big smile and said "ano" (what?) and when she saw Mom, she gave her a hug and said "Mom" for the first time. She was very talkative during our stay. Renee, Damien, Jon-jon and Sasha joined us shortly.

Hi and hello comes natural already when she answers the phone. When we asked her where Megan is, she said "Mexico" and when we asked her if she was starting to eat soft diet food, she said "this morning".

Dinner consists of 7 different kinds of stuff from soup to jello, mashed potatoes with gravy... she ate about 3 different kinds, the rest she didn't really care for. She got excited when I told her Iwill bring arroz caldo when I get back. Maybe, we can puree some mongo with rice or sinigang... just kidding!

It was such a good feeling when we went home. It's too bad, Sacramento is so far, we can't stay any longer or visit as often. But we will try the best we can.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please keep on praying...

Jan. 24, 2009

It was early when we left. Anicia was still asleep when we arrived. Then the therapist came. There was movement in Anicia's right leg, how cool is that! OMG I was in tears, not only once but when the therapist asked her. Ok don't get carried away, it was with a little help from the therapist but this is the beginning. It was long way to Sacramento but it was so worth it!!!

Roger also said that last Thursday, when they were watching TV, Anicia just put her right arm on her chest to elevate it. Roger got so excited and asked her to do it again. But Anicia just smiled. The doctor said, you will see these things happen when you least expect it. If she is not thinking about it, it can happen. It is a regular thing now when you talk to her on the phone, she says "hi".

Thank you so much for your prayers. But please, keep on praying.

Jan. 22, 2009

Anicia is doing fine. It was a long day for her today. It was a long trip to Sacramento! Yes, Anicia was transferred to Emerald Gardens Nursing Home in Sacramento.

It's going to be a long drive to Sac. Thank you Lord for keeping the gas price low...

Please keep on praying. Thank you for all your prayers.

Jan. 20, 2009

Anicia has been going to the garden almost everyday when the day is nice and sunny. "Hi" comes out naturally when you talk to her on the phone. Yesterday was great to see her attempting to call Rodger then said "am, am" 2 or 3X times trying to tell him something. We had to guess and guess but at least she was trying.

Today, they tried to give her some pudding. She coughed a little but she seems okay. They will try again tomorrow. You should have seen the smile on her face, priceless!

Thank you for all your prayers. Please keep on praying...

Jan. 14, 2009

Long day for Anicia today. Doctors decided they will drain... She has been wanting to talk but nothing comes out, imagine that! Doctors says a lot of the fluid is sitting on the speech side of her brain so they finally decided to do the procedure. ctscan in the morning, then she was brought to the OR at 1 p.m. She went to OR room #5 at 2. Doctors told us procedure was done around 4:30 and everything went well, but they had to do another ctscan to make sure everything is okay. There was a waiting list to do ctscan, oh my... so after everything was said and done, Anicia is finally back to her room at 8:15 p.m. We didn't stay very long because she looked really tired. I hope she was able to get some rest.

Thank you for all your prayers. We hope, with this procedure, this will the beginning of her speech come back. Please keep on praying...

Jan. 10, 2009

Roger says, "It's such a nice day. Meg and I took Anicia outside to the 3rd fl garden. Anicia was so happy taking in all the fresh air and enjoying the scenery. It was awesome!"

Pray, Pray, Pray... thank you for all your prayers. Please keep on praying, she is doing very well and getting better everyday!

Jan. 9, 2009

No surgery, doctor said she is doing so well! Horay!!! Jojo visits and he says Anicia looks so good. She is full of life and she looks like Anicia wearing a big smile and very alert!

Please pray, pray, pray for full and complete recovery and don't forget to say thanks for no surgery!

Jan. 8, 2009

Beautiful day. Anicia was happy and just giggling away. She even said "hi and hello" to Roger, Sharon, Connie. She read magazines, stared at pictures... She also did everything the therapists asked her to do. But after the therapist left, she was tired.

Thank you for your prayers. But please keep on praying... Someone up there is listening....

Jan. 7, 2009

Thank you Roger for being at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. to be with Anicia on surgery day. Unfortunately, surgery was rescheduled for Friday. The OR was pretty busy... but like anything, everything works for the best... Anicia sat down with a little help from Roger and therapist. She followed all of therapist commands, yappie! She is definitely improving and communicating.

Thank you for all your prayers. Please make an extra one for Friday. Thank you to Obet and Chida for offering mass for Ate on Friday.

I will keep you posted.

Jan. 6, 2009

Anicia was doing fine. She is so responsive, it's incredible! Any yes/no questions, she'll give you an answer. You can give her choices too, write the choices and she can tell you what she wants.
Yesterday seemed a long night for her. Late in the afternoon, she had her MRI done. I am so glad I was with her the whole time. In and out of the xray room, she held my hand. I told her, I was going to leave once she falls asleep. Guess what, she couldn't sleep, worried about the surgery the following day. Finally, I had to go at 10:30. I was getting tired. She would let me go but you can see her eyes getting red so I just couldn't leave.

Hope everything goes well... Please say an extra prayer for her. Surgery is around 1 p.m. Jan. 7.

Jan. 5, 2009

MRI will be done tomorrow. Doctor was very happy today. Anicia actually showed him 2 fingers, thumbs up, knodding yes, no to questions. She did everything doctor asked her to do, Roger was in tears! Roger wrote yes and no on the magic doodle. Anicia can let us know if the question is a yes/ no answer. Horay she is really starting to communicate... Patience is a virtue.

Pray, pray, pray... let's keep on praying... it's working... someone is definitely watching out for her!

Jan. 2, 2009

Anicia, Anicia, Anicia... Sharon, Connie and I were at the hospital chatting away. Anicia saw Sharon drinking water and just looked at her. Sharon gave the bottle of water to her and she tried to drink. She laughed because the cap was on. We didn't think about it and kept on talking. Next thing we knew, she was coughing/choking from the water. She tried to drink! And she laughed... She kisses back already.

Jan. 1, 2009

After our family served soup to the homeless at the transit terminal in San Francisco, we decided to visit Anicia. This is actually the first time all our 6 children saw her. She smiled and was just looking at them. She was tickled when Carmen told her we have laing and ocra with bagoong waiting for her at home. She seemed a little tired. We were there pretty early. After we came back from church, she was asleep so we had to go. My other siblings visited in the afternoon. They said she was laughing away, giggling and all.