Friday March 6, 2009- Day 3 @ Craig

Hi everyone! I'm here for a Mid-day Post! I know, unusual, but Christy is in EEG right now with Donald. They went to Swedish Hospital next door to do the test. They went by gurney and Craig must be connected to Swedish Hospital through a bridge or basement hallway. I'll ask Don when he comes back. I took a little picture of myself at the computer in the family activity room so you could see where I was exactly typing away to you guys!

I didn't get to explain the set up quite yet. The simple part is that Craig Hospital is split into two buildings, EAST and WEST. Christy is in the west wing on a floor for brain injury patients (2nd). The East side sounds like it's for patients almost ready to go home from Craig & Christy will most likely make one or more moves throughout the hospital during her stay. The spinal cord injury patients are split from the brain injury patients. I may be recalling wrong, but I think more spinal cord patients reside on the East side. The east and west buildings are connected by the glass bridge where we were soaking up the sun yesterday.

Chrisy's room has a cool swivel TV that has an arm that bends in many different places. It can raise an lower to whatever height is best for her. Everything here seems to be well thought out. The board behind tells Christy the day and the nurses & techs on to help her for the day! The call bell is a huge round red ball that is extremely sensitive. It hangs on a cord tied to the bedside light in her room. It triggers someone from the nurses station to call into the room on the intercom. You can speak softly and the intercom can still pick up what you are saying. All of these things make it so much easier for Christy. the picture on the right is her dresser and shelves. She's got her pictures up of the Kids and Don! We got her some real shampoo and Alan is bringing some yummy lotions and shower gel from Bath and Body works!

Christy has a printed schedule for the week with blocked times of therapies and the name of the therapist coming to see her. Oh! I have to mention that yesterday I talked about "Malia" the speech therapist, but actually her name is only pronounced Malia, but spelled "Melea". She just moved here from L.A. 8 months ago, just like Alan! Malea was in the 8:30- 9:00 spot this morning and back again in the 10:00-10:30 spot. Christy was tired, and Don said it was hard for Melea to get much out of her. Christy is having a sleepy day and is tired. When I got her room today, she had just been put back to bed about 10 minutes before I got there. Christy was sleeping pretty deeply. Chris' sleep-wake cycles are still off, despite the minor pharmacological changes that have been made. Dr. Ripley said that he is really good at changing drugs around-- adding and taking away drugs to give Chrsity the most comfort but optimal alertness for therapies. Christy is still experiencing the leg cramping and restlessness when she is trying to sleep. Christy is still on the Baclofan (muscle relaxer). The nurses were explaining that the Baclofan isn't very good for alertness, but Chrsity needs it for her tight spasming leg cramps. And I just found out that there is a spasticity clinic here too!! Craig has EVERYTHING!! There are answers and resources here we couldn't have imagined!!!

Physical therapy came by with a deluxe protractor & ruler-ish device. I asked PT later what its official name was and it's "Gonometer". It measures the angles of the extremities. I think they wanted to stretch Chrsity out and measure the range of motion she has in her legs. Christy was in a pretty deep sleep because when Jody came it to wake her, she didn't even move. They decided that they would com back to see her at their 2:00pm spot this afternoon. Letting Christy sleep would make her more productive this afternoon. In addition, they didn't think they would get to work with her as well if she was this sleepy. So at 1:00pm a transporter came to take her to EEG.

So there is more physical therapy and occupational therapy lasting till 3:00pm today. OT will asses range of motion of the arms. All of the therapies are in assessment phase right now. The real active working therapies will begin next week after the initial test and assessments have been made! Therapies end by 4:00pm daily.

For anyone who is interested in sending a card to Christy I wanted to give the address of the Hospital. There has been inquiry already and I'm sure there are others out there!

Kelelina Christy Huddy

Room 216 A

c/o Craig Hospital

3425 South Clarkson Street

Englewood, Colorado 80110

xoxo, gabby