Zahava remains in a stable condition in the stroke ward. Her alertness remains the same, spending most of the time resting or in some kind of semi-conscious state – it is difficult to know exactly how much she is aware of. She does open her eyes occasionally and shows deliberate communication with us, but tires very quickly.

In terms of her body, she takes minor steps forward requiring less support from medicine and equipment, although she still requires a trachy in her throat to help deal with secretions.

Our focus now is building up her swallow strength so she can eventually have the trachy taken from her throat. Beyond that we hope and pray that her brain is finding a way to rewire passed the damaged areas so she will regain more consciousness and be able to talk again one day.

Thanks once again for your ongoing prayers and support, we have only begun to climb this mountain.

Yaro and Phil.

Here’s the latest on Zahava’s recovery as we head to a month now in hospital.

Things go up and down, with mum having a chest infection slowing things down and a rash too. These things are getting better and she is well looked after with antibiotics and 24 hour care. She also has a couple of other “mysteries” that are watched to see how they are going as well, although the stroke remains the main concern.

She had a new MRI last week and just today the doctors have reported back to us that the top chambers of her brain are good, it is the lower parts, in particular the brain stem where all the traffic to the top of the brain goes through that needs repair. The strokes are not big, it’s only the location that has resulted in such a big impact on her body.

The prognosis is still time as some people have recovered from this sort of damage before, but it is hard to know what will happen or when it will happen with Zahava. Because of the location of the stroke she is quite sleepy most of the day and only becomes a alert now and then.

It’s still early days in stroke time, so we wait patiently by her every day, talk to her, give her music and audiobooks, although most of the time she is resting.

As an additional request for prayers for Zahava, please add her mother, Jolie Harvey (my grandmother, Zahava’s mother), to your prayer list as well. Jolie is 90 years old and Zahava was visiting her mother in Canada where she was in hospital just before the stroke. Jolie is not well and I know my mother would appreciate your well wishes for her mother as well.

Thanks again for your ongoing support and keep the prayers and positive thinking coming!

Yaro and Phil