Sunday, July 26, 2009, 12:55 p.m.~

Dear Journal~

I can't believe all the stuff that's been happening for the past few days!  By "stuff", I mean the good things that are suddenly occurring in my life.

My mom is fully conscious after being comatose for nearly a month.  She was struck by a drunken driver while getting the mail for an elderly, homebound neighbor across the street.  I saw the accident happen, right in front of me; I still have trouble sleeping because I see her body flying up into the air, hearing the terrible thump, and then seeing her lying, bloody, broken, and motionless in the road.

I knew she had been badly hurt; it scared the he** out of me.  It was the worst thing I had ever experienced, even worse than when Tray had all of his surgeries for his heart.  I thought she had been killed.

For the next several weeks, mom lay in a sea of tubes in the Neuro Intensive Care unit, fighting to live.  I spent nearly every waking moment with her at the hospital; even when sleeping, I stayed at the hospital; I didn't want to leave mom, in case she got worse and died, or something happened to where she would wake up again.

Well, mami woke up last week.  She's now got the nose hose out, and is eating soft foods after being on liquids and/or tube feedings since coming into the hospital.  She is speaking, responding to questions, even moving the limbs that aren't bandaged or broken.  She still faces a long recovery, but mom is not paralyzed or brain damaged, much to everyone's surprise.

Doctors don't know if she will fully regain all of her abilities, functions, faculties, but at this point, we'll take any good news we can possibly get!! 

Mami is now in a regular room:  she was moved out of the Neuro ICU only yesterday.  She can have visitors anytime from nine a.m. until nine p.m., but if she gets tired, she has to get her rest.  We have made that a rule in our family.  I am to see that it is adhered to, so mami can recover faster.

Papi has brought my three brothers (Tray, Torencio, and Trevino) to see mami; Trevi and Rencio were estatic; all Tray was interested in was looking at the stuffed animals he saw in the gift shop window and eating the good food in the cafeteria!  LOL  Mami was happy to see them; she cried, as I did.  We knew then she was clearly on her way to recovering, and it is only by a miracle that she's come this far!

I don't know how long mami will remain in the hospital; however, we are hopeful that she will be like she was before she got hurt.  All we can do is continue to pray for her, and for us, as we face the long, difficult days ahead.  We did have several prayers answered already:  mami is awake, talking, and understands what's going on around her.  We just have to pray that she regains her physical abilities, so she can take care of us, her family.

Well, I am in the cafeteria as I write this; I just got finished with lunch.  Hamburger sandwich with cheese.  Chips (ranch and sour cream flavored).  Cherry jello.  A piece of bread with butter on the side.  A bottle of Coke classic.  It was a very good lunch.  I am going to go back up to mami's room and visit; hopefully she is awake and not sleeping.  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Julie Jasmine saying so long!  God bless and please keep those prayers coming; we really appreciate them!

~Love, your friend, Julie J. Torres.  :D

*To be continued.*