Rehab Update

Judi continues to get better day by day. She will be staying at least another week due to the progress she is making.

She is still struggling with talking where we can understand her, but she is very vocal and has started laughing at times as well. I can't tell you what it does to my spirits to hear her laugh after all we have been through. I can also tell you that without a doubt, Judi understands at least part of what we are telling her. I won't tell you what I said to her, but it was an old joke between us and she started laughing when I said it. Just another reminder she is in there and ready to come back to us.

She is following commands much better and has become VERY active in exploring things around her. I made a mistake and showed her how to unbuckle her wheel chair seat belt (What was I thinking????). I have to keep a close eye on it now because she can do it pretty quickly. She is also intrigued with different textures and loves to touch everything that comes within reach. These are all good signs.

She continues to have difficulty processing information that requires multiple brain functions and being able to establish a clear method to communicate "yes/no" responses. This has us a little perplexed because she is doing so well in other areas. We continue to believe this is just going to take time. Unfortunately, this is one of the most critical areas since it inhibits our ability to really communicate with Judi and start focusing on specific issues that she can tell us about.

PT continues to go well. We continue to focus on standing in the "standing frame" and sitting up without support. You can tell this causes her a great deal of discomfort, but she does her best to "suck it up" and get stronger. Sometimes though, she just needs to lay down and take a rest. Her left side is still very weak, but seems to be getting slightly more responsive. We'll keep working on this as well. My admiration for Judi continues to grow as I watch her fight her way through these things.

Eye hand coordination (right side) getting much better. We believe she is having some trouble with her vision field which may be contributing to some of her difficulties. This is not uncommon and often resolves itself by getting her to look away from her "strong view" and the recognition by the brain that she can see over there as well (that may not be the anatomically correct description, but you get the picture).

Swallow study today went OK. Still struggling with regular liquids, but did fine with a cookie (go figure). This will allow her to eat ground meats/veggies instead of pureed and hopefully they will retain a little more flavor. She is not eating as well as I hoped she would, but we believe it will just take time since it has been so long and she had already become a pretty small portion eater as part of her weight loss program prior to the accident. It is kind of a "Catch 22" because if she doesn't eat, we have to feed her through the PEG to ensure she doesn't become malnourished which causes her to be full when the next meal rolls around. I am working with the dietitian to come up with a plan to get her on a path where she can be successful.

We had her follow up doctors visit at MCG yesterday and all was well. CT scan shows things heading in the right direction. She got all of her sutures removed and now we'll be able to let her head heal (it has been through a lot!). We have our next follow up in three months. It dawned on me as we drove from Walton to MCG with her in a wheelchair, this was the first time since her accident that she had been able to sit up and see the world around her. She was taking it all in as we passed many familiar landmarks in the area and just the amount of motion she could view was almost overloading her senses.

Several of you have been to visit and she seems to enjoy it very much. It seems to be good for the visitor(s) as well. Just shoot me an e-mail if you would like to come so I can make sure you don't waste a trip (in rehab, asleep, etc.). If you want to wait until we are back home, that's OK too. I already promised her she could have "girl's night" anytime she wanted when we got back home and catch up on all the news. Thanx again for all of the prayers and support.

Steve