5/15/25 – Happy Birthday!

Papa said he and Dallas had a calm evening last night, which is always good – a good day always starts with a good night.

Rounding with the team was short and concise this morning: since she’s doing well with her feed volume change, we’ll condense from 90 minutes to 60 minutes starting tomorrow. They felt she was ready today, but with it being her birthday, we didn’t want to push our luck.

Kim with speech came by and practiced again with the spoon and water, but progressed to a lemon Italian Ice treat. Dallas did between 8-10 good swallows between the water and Italian Ice and Kim was impressed with how well she was doing, specifically with the more consistent lingual movements and swallows. Once she started to fatigue, Dallas seemed to sign “all done” and then made a slight vocalization response of same twice. I’m really happy that we got back on the books with speech this week. Dallas has had more intentional mouth and tongue movements, and seems to be progressing – albeit small steps – with each session. She’s also sticking her tongue out, much farther than we’ve seen.

Today’s first birthday wish to come true was having Maggie May, an 11 year old Labrador / Golden Retriever mix, visit Dallas’s room. We’ve been telling everyone that we wanted a service/therapy dog to stop by for Dallas’s birthday and they made it happen. When Maggie May entered the room, Heather told Dallas to turn her head to see the dog – she actually lifted her head and turned entirely on her own. It’s amazing the motivation a friendly pup can provide! After a while, both Dallas and Maggie May really connected with one another and took a short nap together (pictured). Truth be told, we all needed Maggie May’s visit and were happy to learn she’ll be back next week.

Birthday celebrations continued with practically everyone who is taking care of or working with Dallas (doctors, nurses, aides, staff, therapists, etc.). PopPop, Mumsie, Papa, Heather, and I were also there. Brooklyn from Music therapy played Happy Birthday for Dallas on guitar, and all the staff sang and presented her with a big poster-sized card that they signed. We played the compilation video of all the happy birthday and best wishes that were sent, and at last count, I believe there were over 60!

Another highlight was getting Dallas downstairs, outside in the courtyard for some warm, late afternoon sunshine. We brought with us her Minnie Mouse bubble blower and filled the courtyard with bubbles. I’ve said it before, but we feel that something as simple as getting her outside to feel the breeze, the sun on her skin, and listening to the birds chirp does so much for her spirit. This sort of positive energy helps to get her through the therapies, and gives her something to look forward to.

Thank you for all of your birthday wishes, gifts, cards and especially the videos – we were overwhelmed with all the love from so many. A special thanks to our REALTOR friends from all over the country that showered our girl as well. If you know anyone planning to make a move soon, we’d love to connect you with our amazing connections – from all across the country – that are truly like an extended family to us.

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” — Roger Caras

« Wednesday, May 14th

Friday, May 16th »