We've reached the end of the first week with Megan's full-time health aides in the house, and I've been out of their house for nearly a week as well. You might be expecting a comment such as, "things are falling into a routine now," or "everything is unfolding as planned," but those statements don't feel like the right fit. There's not really a "routine" because every day is so different from the last, and it would be simply ridiculous to describe anything as happening "as planned" because, well, NONE of this is planned. 

There are some constants from day to day... Megan wakes up sometime between 6am and 8:30am - no need to set an alarm! She brushes her teeth, washes her face, gets dressed, puts on her ankle brace, shoes, watch, ring, and earrings, and heads downstairs. All of these activities occur with at least minimal assistance, some fully carried out by an aide or other person to help. She eats breakfast, drinks coffee, takes her morning medications, scrolls her iPad and attempts to attend to text messages. She has NOT yet looked at a single email since February. 

Re: text messages - YES, Megan can receive and read texts. HOWEVER, I might suggest that you hold off on messaging her at this point, as she still has a lot of trouble recognizing names, making sense of full sentences, and knowing what to reply when she reads a message. 

After breakfast, Megan's day is filled with exercises, stretches, writing and speaking practice, sessions with visiting therapists from the home health company, naps, meals... it's an oddly BUSY schedule and yet it also feels like a decent amount of down time. Megan needs a ton of rest because simply being awake and paying attention to her surroundings is exhausting. By late afternoon, Peter is home from work and the boys are typically home for the majority of the evening (save for baseball, cross country, and various other school-related events). The four of them spend the entire evening together - dinner, watching baseball, playing Mah Jong, just chatting. Megan, of course, doesn't do much chatting - but she asks things like, "How was school?" and listens lovingly to the answer. 

One of my least favorite phrases is "new normal," because it sounds a bit dejected and dire. It always seems to be said with a BIG SIGH... like, *sigh,* I guess this is our new normal." It sounds like giving up! So I will not describe this week's activities as any kind of new normal. It's simply what happened this week. Next week will be different, as will the next. 

Please continue to direct your questions directly to ME (not Peter) or into the comments section below. THANK YOU for continuing to read and follow, and for sending so much support, love, and light to our family.