January 2, 2005 - Late Night

Mandy continued doing well both yesterday and today. She walked 2 laps around her floor on her walker yesterday (with help from Kurt and a few standing breaks) in 2 separate walks. Her left foot seems to be improving (we saw her move her toes on it yesterday) but it still causes her some pain. Her cognition remains hazy; her communication skills improve everyday but the words are still pretty jumbled. She is feeding herself for the majority of mealtimes, but she is still prone to distraction and needs assistance making sure that she eats all of her meals. She is swallowing her pills regularly now (instead of having them mashed up in her food) which is one of the important steps towards getting her stomach tube removed. When she is "on", she is able to concentrate on tasks that she is enjoying for about 20 minutes. If she's bored, well, she's still Mandy. If she has no interest in what's going on, she tends to let you know that.

Now that the swelling is down from the surgery on her left eye, it has opened back up a bit. She is now able to fully close it when she sleeps and this is good news for her cornea! We've ordered her an "eye patch" to see if it will help keep her busy hands away from her eye; if it works, we know she'll be the cutest pirate ever.

She had her best session of group neuro psychology this morning. She was attentive for the first 20 minutes and even showed interest in reading the headlines on the daily newspaper that was being discussed. (Can't blame her for losing interest in the last 10 minutes as the conversation was all about the Dallas cowboys and their most recent game.) She still hasn't recognized the current date, but we think she's getting closer as she wished her visitors last night a Happy New Year (we're not sure that recognizes what that means, but she did spontaneously wish them a Happy New Year none the less). Her doctor mentioned giving Kurt some games and activities that he could play with her to help her improve her cognitive skills.

The most exciting news is that her PT hinted that depending on how her group session goes this weekend, we might be able to get a "pass" for her this weekend for a very brief outing out of rehab with Kurt. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!