Treadin' Water

Lots of things to update on since the last post. As you can see we finally got Judi enrolled in the Adaptive Aquatics program and she loves it. I am not sure which aspect she enjoys the most: working in the pool, hanging out with others or the fact that the water is about 90 degrees. I can only imagine how good that must feel on her muscles after all she has gone through. Probably the biggest news from this activity is that we have been able to get her to consistently "cycle" with BOTH legs in the water. I have been impressed with what the team is able to do. They put a small wrap around float on her left thigh and then an ankle weight on her left ankle. What this does is keep her knee bent. It takes much less energy to move a muscle/limb in the water and "wah-la" she started pumping it the first time she tried after we showed her how. She almost started crying when she realized what she was doing. I of course was totally composed and shouting "I told you that you could do it!"


Those of you that know our Judi well know how quickly she likes to be the expert on everything she attempts and would not be surprised to see her go from holding on for dear life the first week to a big "thumbs up" just a week later (not the greatest picture but I was on the move). The lady working with her here is also a nurse so they hit it off big time.

Judi continues to get physically an mentally stronger. She enjoys free standing with me holding her up more and more. It is nice to get a 5'9" hug again. At first she could only do it for a few seconds, but now tolerates a minute or so before her legs start to give out. Her muscle tone is coming back in her legs as well and she is slowly but surely losing the "chicken legs." She is also working with a very talented massage therapist to help loosen her muscles in addition to the water therapy. We have seen a significant improvement in her head/neck from these efforts.

We have had multiple Dr's appointments over the last few weeks. These were primarily 6 month follow ups since her surgery in April. Her brain injury specialist left Walton in the spring and went to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. We decided to stay with him and they agreed to keep Judi as a patient. It is an awesome facility and her check up went very well. He was impressed with her progress and validated for us that she was not missing any new therapies that would apply to her injury that might be available there and not at Walton. Her neurosurgeon appointment and associated CT scan went well. Her brain continues to reposition itself in her skull and everything looks fine. He too commented on how well she was doing and I thought he would fall out when she reached up and shook his hand when he came in her room. He was also amazed when she was able to work simple math problems. Her neurologist appointment and new EEG also went well. The EEG still shows a lot of slowing of the brain function where the majority of her damage was, but it has lessened significantly since the last EEG. Not sure if this is neurofeedback, healing, tough as nails Judi or all of the above. We will continue all of them! We also are trying to change her anti seizure medication. The medication she is on has a lot of potential side effects and there is a new drug I have been researching for a while that would seem to be perfect for her with much less likelihood of side effects. It should also be a lot less "mind numbing" than her current medication. Unfortunately all of them have a bit of this effect (that's how they prevent the seizures ).

I did finally get her out to the bowling alley to see her old pals on the bowling team. Thanx to Deborah Turner for helping me get that worked out. All of the ladies were awesome to her and she clearly enjoyed the outing. I will definitely take her back soon. She was lit up all night after that trip. I think it does her a tremendous amount of good to get out of the house and back into environments that bring back good memories.

One of her younger sisters (Kelly) from up north also flew in and spent a long weekend with us. It was awesome to see her again and it was obvious that it did both of them good. I enjoyed getting to talk about the "old days" and it brought back some wonderful memories. As we have gone on this journey, it has become more and more clear how important it is to spend time with family and enjoy every minute that you can. You never know what the next day will bring.

We also had Judi evaluated for what I call a "gaze computer." I think the proper description is speech generation device. It is basically a computer that picks of the position of the users eyes to control selections on the screen that generate phrases, words, requests based on what the user selects. Judi did well with it, but I noticed that she reached for the boxes as well and I believe she may be able to use the touch screen version which is a little less sensitive (and therefore less prone to mistakes). We are evaluating the best path to take since the systems are very expensive and we want to keep the pressure on her to talk. We are a little afraid that if she gets comfortable using this device to communicate, she may stop trying as hard to talk. More to follow on this later.

Good news on the caretaker front. The new caretaker has finally started letting her hair down and I think she is going to be a very good fit. She takes her job very seriously and the two of them are starting to bond pretty well. She is a little high maintenance, but as long as she is good to and for Judi, I can handle it.

I guess one last piece of news that will have a big impact on us as well. We are close to signing a contract on a condo/town home. It is actually a place we looked at before Judi got hurt, so I know she likes them. It is almost 1900 ft2 and is all on one floor with a fully open floor plan. We are negotiating what it will cost to have some modifications made that make it fully accessible for Judi (roll in shower, wheelchair accessible sink, etc.) and everything looks favorable. I just can't keep up everything with our current home and it is more than we need today. Having all of the maintenance (grounds, exterior, etc.) covered is very appealing to me now that time is such a precious commodity. I think the new neighborhood will be good for Judi to meet some new friends that only know her for who she is today. I know many of her previous friends tell me they find it difficult to see Judi as she is today because they remember the "old Judi" so they don't come around. I personally think that is a cop out, but that is a decision that each person makes for themselves. As the old saying goes, the right thing and the hard thing are often the same.

Well, I think that is most of the big stuff for the last few weeks. Please keep us in your prayers - we both need them. I will admit I am struggling harder and harder to juggle everything these days. The better Judi gets, the more attention she needs and unfortunately work has an increased demand as well. I am struggling to get everything done there as well. Hopefully we will reach a point soon where I can slow down a little and catch up. So if you can, say a little extra prayer, we would appreciate it. Stop by and see us if you get a chance.

God Bless,

Steve