Rehab Update - What a Woman!

What can I say? Judi has exceeded all of the therapists' expectations this week. I, of course was not surprised and did resist the urge to yell out "I told you so!" She has worked so hard that it is truly inspiring to see.

She is eating again and has progressed to the point where she can start eating enough to be part of her overall nutrition instead of just therapy. Hopefully she will tolerate this well and we can drive towards removing the feeding tube and a normal diet.

Her trach is capped and we plan to leave it that way through the weekend. As long as she has no issues, we will remove it on Monday. We have been a little surprised that she hasn't started talking yet, but she is VERY close and it may take the trach removal to push her over the edge. She makes a lot of sounds and routinely mouths words. She also had a laugh during one of her therapies that was wonderful to hear. Just a good reminder that she is in there and we just need to help her come back to us.

She is doing well in Physical Therapy (PT) and getting stronger every day. She is standing up in the "standing machine" for about 30 mins at a time. This helps her in many ways. We continue to work on strengthening her abdominal muscles to provide support for her when she sits without something behind her. Once she can sit unsupported it makes moving her to/from a wheel chair much easier (and comfortable). Her neck muscles are also a focus area. The neck brace always creates an issue with weakening muscles from lack of use and Judi had to wear one for a long time. We need her to get that strength so she can safely ride in a car or something similar that does not have a specific support. All of you know that Judi loves to be "on the go" so both of these areas are important to her physically as well as from a quality of life perspective. Just to make sure everyone understands, the wheelchair is an interim step while Judi recovers her muscle strength and coordination. I fully expect her to be walking and throwing a bowling ball in the future.

Occupational Therapy (OT) continues to be the biggest challenge for her. This deals a lot with doing tasks that we take for granted in our everyday lives like brushing your teeth, feeding yourself, etc. These present the most difficulty at this point due to the fact it requires a lot of eye hand coordination, fine motor skills, etc. that just take time to get back. Judi is chipping away at these, but the going is slow due to the combined effects of the brain injury and muscle recovery. I have no doubt that she will continue to pick up momentum here as well.

Judi is following commands better and I have her counting with her fingers as well. She is still working on yes/no type responses which continue to be impacted by her limited ability to process information at multiple level of the brain. I continue to believe she just needs time here since she has steadily improved.

I am getting everything ready for her to come home soon. We are still not sure how long she will stay in rehab this time. That will be determined by what is right for her from the big picture. We have no desire to force her through therapy that doesn't truly provide value for her at this time. At some point we need to let her mental state recover sufficiently so that she can understand what she is being asked to do and not be presented with a bunch of tasks that only serve to frustrate her. A familiar environment, some quality social time and my cooking are sure to bring her up to speed in a hurry. Many of you have offered to help with some tasks along the way and I may need a little help once I get her home initially. With Jessica working full time at school, it will only be me for a while and I will have to stay with her at all times.

Thanx again for the prayers (they are working) and all the other support as well,
Steve