Merry Christmas

I can hardly believe Christmas is just a couple days away.  I found this Christmas Elf hanging around the Christmas tree.  I suspect she was scoping out the presents to see which ones had her name on them!

As you can see, Judi continues to get stronger and appears to grow more aware on a daily basis.  We were able to complete the transition from her previous anti-seizure medication to a new drug that has fewer side effects (long and short term).  There was a definite improvement in her awareness directly associated with this change.

Judi continues to enjoy the water therapy and it seems to be helping her muscle development and strength a great deal.  The massage therapist continues to make significant progress with her as well.  She not only works with Judi, but shows me the things I can do to work with her at home.  We continue to stand her in her frame at home and the 5'9" hugs continue at every opportunity.  The neuro feedback training continues although it was slowed down a bit when we transitioned to the new drug.  I am on a new therapy mission though.  After all of the recent doctor appointments and tests, it is still a mystery why Judi isn't talking.  I am trying to find a language specialist and potentially a music therapist that specializes in brain injuries.  I have never felt like traditional speech therapy met Judi's needs.  I am looking for someone that can help her more with the mechanics of learning to speak again.  There are many of them out there, I just have to find someone that is close enough to be able to get her to enough sessions to be effective.  Music therapy has also shown results with people with brain injuries as well since it utilizes a different set of pathways in many cases than traditional speech.  The key component gets them to hum and sing tunes they are familiar with using various techniques.  This was one of the techniques used to help Gabby Giffords relearn how to talk.  Again, the difficulty will be to find someone that is close enough to be effective.  If any  of you know of someone, please let me know.

We did sign the contract on the condo.  It is being finished as we speak and we should close around the middle of January.  I am excited and a bit sad as well.  I am happy to be moving forward and provide Judi with an improved quality of life, but there are many Wilkerson memories associated with our existing home.  We have not decided whether to sell our existing home or to rent it until the economy gets a bit better.  I have lots of volunteers to help us move and I plan to take them up on the offer.  More to follow on the condo when we get it closer to being finished.

I wanted to let everyone know that we will most likely stop the blog after the first of the year and go to a facebook page instead.  Facebook seems to be a little more user friendly for shorter entries than the blog.  This will let us make comments quickly when they seem appropriate as opposed to sort of "saving up" for a blog entry.  I still want to make the information available since I know a lot of people are still following the blog.  I will have to learn how to use facebook (never used it before), but Jess is an expert and she says I am trainable!  I'll give everyone the scoop once we have it set up.

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I will admit that the holidays continue to be difficult for all of us, but we are learning to make the best of the situation.  Take time to tell those that are special to you how much you love them.  I don't know if I ever mentioned this on the blog, but one of the things that I have held on to through out this ordeal is the last words Judi and I shared with each other.  As she got her equipment on, she gave me a kiss and we exchanged "I love yous."  Right before we pulled off and I asked her if she was ready to go, she replied with that big Judi grin: "Let's ride chief!"  The message is a simple one.  Focus on the things that are truly important and don't let the little stuff get in the way.  What if the words you say to a loved one were the last ones they ever heard from you?  Make sure you spend time with those you love.  You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Merry Christmas
Steve, Judi and Jess