Wednesday, March 11, 2009- 8th day at Craig

Christy's day started out with speech therapy.  When Melea isn't around, Laura comes to see Chirsty.  Speech therapy brought a bunch of pictures (of a house, a toothbrush, a comb, every day things).  She showed them to Christy but Chris couldn't recognize what they were.  Either Christy couldn't see them or her brain isn't recognizing the objects.  I often see the neurosurgeon (brain-surgeon) at Straub test patients on everyday items to see if they know the names of them.  It was frustrating for Christy, being that she's so intelligent, but it's not about smarts.  She's still smart, just wounded.  She can re-learn the names of things, it will just take time.  Later in the day Laura from speech did a hearing/thinking test.  The first thing that Christy had to do was push the button every time she heard the number 2.  It was a recording speaking and there were just random numbers spoken.   The next task got a little harder and Christy had to press the button if the number in the sequence was one number less than the previous.  For example, the recording would  say random numbers like 7, 5, 4, 2, 6.  Christy would have to buzz on the number 4 because it was one less than five.  No other numbers do this in this small sequence.  Then there was a harder one after that.  Christy did very well, getting most of the questions correct! yay! The next phase had to do with numbers as well, but repeating them in a specific order.  The therapist would say 12 and they wanted Chris to tell them back 21, and so forth. She got all of the two number sets.  Once they went to three number sets, it was harder for her to grasp, but we're working on it!  

They were also introduced to the recreation area today by Lori, from therapeutic recreation .  This is all the fun stuff to do.  Remember me mentioning that there is a schedule of cool events to do for the month.  The recreation room has movie night, ceramics, and all kinds of arts and crafts.  It's downstairs in the EAST wing of Craig, right across the apartments.  Donald just has to be cleared by PT and the M.D. to be able to take her off the unit & eventually outside.  Right now Don just has to be cleared one more time by PT on transferring Christy and he can take her places.  

Dr. Schraa came by to visit Christy today as well.  He's the psychologist.  He brought pictures with hi as well.  He wanted to know what Chris could see and what she couldn't see.  In the last session, he talked to Don about the family, and just getting to know Chris, Don, and the family.

With Occupational therapy today, they worked with flashlights.  Christy had one and the therapist had one.   Casey from OT would put her light in one direction and then asked Christy to point her flashlight in the same direction as hers.  Christy had a difficult time with this exercise, but it was just the first attempt.  The next part of the flashlight exercise was with the same Velcro wall of alphabets and numbers from yesterday.  Casey would point her flashlight on a number or letter, and Christy would read it.  Christy was sitting about 5-6 feet away from the wall.  Christy did recognize the number right above the area that the flashlight was pointing at & read it at this distance.  That is better than she did the last time.  Christy is making constant improvements every single day!  It's exciting.

There will be two eye specialist seeing Christy so we can decipher exactly what is going on with her eyes.  They mentioned one Doctor K. today to Don.  There are many training exercises that will go on to pinpoint exact vision problems.  

Also, to address Christy's muscle spasms & tightness, there will be a Doctor coming to examine her on April 2nd.  That's the earliest date I think they could get for her.

By the way, the family meeting got bumped to March 23rd now.

Finally, at the end of her day, There were 4 therapist working on

Chris.  PT & OT joined forces today.  Alan says that from the look of it, Christy was having just as much fun as work, which is nice to see.  There are pictures to go with this session!  They did more stretching today which will loosen up the muscles to 

move more.  They even used this

 big yellow cylinder object to roll Christy on it.  (Sorry the pics aren't finished uploading, gotta check on what happened) One time, Christy's stomach was soar, so she pushed off the object and stood up on her knees by herself!! Chris is getting stronger by the minute! The second half of the therapy was spent practicing moving in & out of the bed.  Christy was having some discomfort with her she she catheter, and they were taking care of that for her tonight as well. 

Alan filled me in on the yummy, delicious enchiladas that Luis made for their dinner.  The meal included refried beans, guacamole and sour cream.  I'm so jealous.  Christy said that she "loved it" and ate nearly all of it!  Christy is eating so well now.  I gotta get the pics from Alan of dinner tomorrow, so stay tuned.  

Alan also talked about Christy showing her ever-improving ability to grasp and hold her soda cup.  The first day she did this, it was rather slow and deliberate.  Today, she grabs it quickly and lifts it easily to her mouth to take a sip before putting it back on the table.  It's amazing to watch, Alan says.  

Luis not only cooked a delicious meal, but gave Christy a manicure, complete with a new coat of shimmering gold-pink nail polish.  Christy kept telling Don that if he, "f@&*s up her nails, she's gonna punch him out!" According to Alan, "It was too funny :)"

Tonight is the first night that Don will be sleeping at the apartment!  Today was another wonderful, therapy filled day down in the books! much love!