A smile is a gently curved line that sets a lot of things straight...

Since receiving the T cells 4 days ago, my mom's condition remained relatively unchanged. Some of her movements have increased but she still was unable to do simple things like keep her own tongue in her mouth and her eyes continued to hold a glazed, empty look and would roll back in her head the majority of the time. She developed a slight fever on Sunday and we took that as a good sign that the cells were working to some extent, but we were disappointed when we visited her Monday afternoon and found her to be unresponsive and fading in and out of awareness. It was a difficult day to say the least and had Dana and I driving home in silence, neither wanting to admit what we knew the other was thinking.

And then...

Dana, Chris and I walked into my mom's ICU room and were greeted by her eyes focused and tracking us through the doorway. She returned our smiles with one of her own. Her mouth was closed and we watched as the corners of her mouth curled into a gentle smile and she even managed to wiggle her nose! She was my mom again, her features became her own again and I saw the woman I have been missing for months. I have always heard people say that they could see a smile in a person's eyes but I never experienced it until tonight. Dana, Chris and I stood around the bed crying, smiling, laughing and just watching and enjoying the moment with our mom. She was focused and aware of us like she hasn't been in weeks and it was wonderful. Dan said he was so excited by the difference in her that he just wanted to go and run around the block (of course we stopped him as we were afraid he would get lost!).

The neurology team was in to see her and were impressed with the improvements they witnessed. They are setting up a visit for my mom with a speech consultant to help her communicate better. They have tools that will allow my mom to communicate more with her eyes through the use of messaging boards and similiar props. We hope this will lift her spirits a bit more and help her continue to gain ground.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but today was fantastic!!!