Jessica was in the hospital for a number of weeks. She had a horrible meningitis and when regular antibiotics didn't help, she was started on TB treatment in an effort to try and do all we could. It seemed to work.
Initially Jessica, was opening her eyes, and moving her extremities, then she was able to sit up and eat without the NGT. One day, Susan told me she was walking and talking. I couldn't believe it, so I had to go and see her. Sure enough, it wasn't great, but she was able to walk some and could talk. It was hard to understand her, but she could repeat my name, what a joy
to hear. She stayed in the hospital for a few weeks after she was doing better and I gave her a tennis ball to try and help her get some strength in her arms. I would see her family outside in the grass with her, and she would have the tennis ball and we would play catch. They recently came back for a visit. Jessica walked all the way from the bench to my room, and then started talking. Initially she just repeated everything I said, then she really started just talking about everything. At one point, she started to sing a song to her dad saying she wanted to go home. She isn't totally ok mentally, but she is walking, talking, eating and bringing smiles to her family and her doctors.
