Rivka bat Yael Razel Update: Blossom
5 weeks following her accident, little Rivki Razel is still unconscious, but there have been some hopeful signs.
I have heard that at times, Rivki cries in protest when one of her parents is about to leave her bedside. At times, she has given her mother’s hand the slightest squeeze to indicate “Yes, please” or “No, thank you.” At times, she smiles when something makes her happy or, more often, cries when she feels pain.
Every day, Rivki’s mother and father, Yael and Yonatan, and whichever relatives have joined them, sit by Rivki’s side and tell her stories, and sing her songs. They do everything they can to stimulate Rivki and spur on her recovery.
By all accounts, Rivki has a long road ahead of her. The doctors are saying that her rehabilitation will take about a year. And who knows what Rivki’s final condition will be even when her rehabilitation is completed?
But what’s most encouraging to her family is the growing impression that Rivki is in there. She’s not talking yet, she’s not eating on her own yet, she’s not even awake, but somewhere inside this awful unconscious state, her family senses that the spunky, bright Rivki that they (and we) love is still there.
She’s hibernating, sleeping, gaining strength, whatever you want to call it…but she’s there.
I was thinking this week that for Rivki’s family, watching over her for the past 5 weeks has been like crouching down on their hands and knees and waiting for a flower to open its petals and bloom.
And it occurred to me how rarely we get to watch our children that way.
I was talking to my 10-year-old about her upcoming concert, and in the meantime my 7-month-old took her first roll from her right side to her left on her elephant play-rug. I was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher and in the meantime my 15-month-old took his first step unnoticed by the living room sofa. I was busy raising a growing family, and in the meantime my 12-year-old, Hadas, grew nearly taller than me, even in her socks. When did the baby girl I nursed and diapered and pushed around in that gorgeous blue flowered carriage we gave away a decade ago become a young woman?
When did it happen? And how did I miss it?
Ever since I heard about Rivki’s accident, like many of us, I have felt a sense of loss. And more recently, as Rivki recovers every so slowly under the watchful eyes of her parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents, I have felt a loss for a different reason—I have felt the loss of all those precious missed moments.
Those moments that I was too busy, or at least too distracted, to get down on my hands and knees and witness the miracle of a child’s blossoming, and are now lost forever.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.com user cobalt123
I daven for her everyday and pray she has a complete refuah sheilma and Hashem should give her family strength to know His goodness.
It is wonderful that her family is reading to her and singing with her. Have they been taught coma stimulation? It is important not to overstimulate as much as it is to encourage and stimulate.
Her name is on my Tehillim list. Please update me of her progress.
Refuah Shelayma
Shoshanah
Experienced OT