March 29, 2006 - Late Morning

We have 2 updates today. Some of the Brinker Heads had lunch with Amanda yesterday (see picture to the left), and Lori was kind enough to share some cute stories. The second update is from Christine and about their fun evening last night.

From Lori: "We had such a good visit with Amanda today. We brought her a beef nacho salad from Taco Bueno. She use to order that all the time when we would go. She loved that we brought her lunch and she tried to eat it, but just kept spitting it out, so we took it and got her lunch from the fridge. She ate that much better. She did say that Taco Bueno has the best tea ever and drank that. Jessica started picking at Mandy's salad and Amanda told her that she could eat it if she wanted to, so Jess did. After she finished it, Amanda said 'You did good today, Jess!' (By the way, she totally knows who we are now.) I started laughing and she asked if that was funny? I said yes, she just ate 2 meals. Amanda said,'Yes, she sure had a good time with my salad. That could have been my second dinner.' She only ate one cracker, ham, & cheese out of her lunchables. I packed the others in a zip lock bag and told her that if she gets hungry later, she can snack on these. She said "OK, I'll do that!" Then while I wasn't looking, she looked at Jess with a face shaking her head like 'NOT'. She was making us laugh so much today.

We brought her some cards signed by the Real Estate girls, the PD girls, and the Construction girls. We also brought some pictures of us from events at the office. We asked her who this group was in one picture and she said "That's the Real Estate Dept." She recognized some of the people and called them by name. There's a picture of us from the seventies (attached). She asked Jess "Is that you?" pointing to her dressed up with a big black afro on her head. I told her I still had that shirt in my closet. She told me "Well you shouldn't!" I said I don't wear it and she said "That's Good!"

The hard part was when we got ready to leave. I know she does this to Kurt because he told me, but this was our first time to experience it. We told her we had to go back to work and she said I'm coming with you. We explained that she had to work here and do her physical therapy and she said no. I don't want to do that. I'm coming with you guys. She said that about 4-5 times. The RA took her to the bathroom and we hugged her and told her bye and she said again, I'm coming with you. The RA took her to the bathroom and we left. I don't know if she was looking for us when she got out or not." [No worries Lori. Amanda knows how very loved she is and this is a positive (if sometimes painful) sign of our girl becoming more cognitively aware and that is a very good thing.]

From Christine: "It was great to meet Renee M. tonight. She is super sweet, of course! We (Kurt,Mandy,Renee & I) went grocery shopping...I thought it was fun, but Mandy was a bit whipped by the whole trip. She'd watch Kurt walk down an aisle, and then make comments about what he did/did not pick up, such as "Just look at him. He didn't pick up ANYTHING on this whole aisle! Why did he even go down it?" When he wanted to get her some green tea, she said "He's going to be depressed." I asked why & she said "because I'm not gonna drink it!" Renee also brought a tape of a trip to Alaska in 1993, when Mandy had very long, curly hair. Pretty cute! She didn't watch much of it, because she was deep into word finds. When Renee would ask her to "look at that", she would, and then comment about whatever it was. She knew Renee immediately when she arrived yesterday & told her therapists who she was, wtc. We are seeing see so much progress from where she was only a few months ago!!"

March 27, 2006 - Late Evening

The following is an update from Chris O. about their Saturday together in Amanda's first purely social outing. "As many of you know, Kurt and I are big into the hobby of homebrewing,and this is obviously something that we haven't had much time to do in the past five months. Now that Amanda has been able to come home on the weekends, Dacia and I thought we’d invite them over to our house for a Saturday so we could hang out with them, and perhaps Kurt and I could squeeze in a brew. Eric F. (also our brewing partner) and his wife Jennifer and her sister Rebecca also joined us.

Kurt and Amanda arrived about 9:30 am, and Eric and I had already started the brew, so that we could spend more time visiting with Amanda. She looked very cute as usual, and was rattling off cute phrases left and right, which I’ll try to remember. Right off she said, ‘I have to be earnest, you’re my favorite guy here,’ which really touched me! She then said, ‘Kurt informs me that we’ve scheduled some brewing, and I’m very excited.’ (Mandy used to come hang out and help us when we brewed. When Dacia came along, they used to make lunch for us, including dishes made
with some of our spent barley from the beer making)

When I helped her push her chair up the step into the garage, she said, ‘Thanks, you Rock!’ She then came inside and spent a little while looking at some of Dacia’s scrapbooks, and then decided to stretch out on our couch. I asked her if she’d like to watch a video of one of our trips, and she said, ‘That’s a good idea, Chris, you’re the winner.’

Kurt, Amanda and I used to travel quite extensively together, and I made several videos of some of our trips. We decided to put on the video of our trip to Ireland, which starts out with the U2 song ‘Streets have no Name’ playing and credits rolling like a real movie. (Yes, I’m a video geek) When the credits were rolling, Amanda read them out loud. When it said Ireland 2000, she said, ‘Two Thousand, is that when we went?” Then it began to list the people that went on the trip (the ‘starring cast’). When Amanda’s name came up (top billing, of course) she said ‘Starring
me...that’s good news.’ Then when Martha Lee’s name came up, she said ‘Staring Martha, that’s delicious news!’ When Chris Palmeri’s name came up, she said ‘That’s Amazing News!’ She continued cute little comments like that with each name, and then began to comment on the things happening in the video, such as ‘oh, there you are kissing that rock (me kissing the Blarney Stone) or ‘awe, there we are in a pub.’
After they’d been there for a while, Dacia’s cats, Stinky and Miss Piggy, came out to visit Amanda, which she loved. Stinky climbed up on Amanda while she was laying on the couch, and the normally shy Miss Piggy even hung out and let Mandy give her some cat treats. Mandy commented many times that the cats were ‘so f**king cute.’

After we finished brewing, Dacia prepared us a wonderful lunch of Cream of Asparagus soup, Pasta Salad and Chicken Cordon Bleu, which Mandy seemed to thoroughly enjoy, eating about twice as much as normal. When Mandy said how much she liked the food, I said, ‘that was our goal.’ She said, ‘Everyone should have a goal, and that goal should be to make me happy!.’

Mandy then came outside and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather while Kurt and I cleaned up the brewing equipment. Before they left, Kurt commented about how the next thing they’d had scheduled to do when she was supposed to come home from Savanna had been to brew at my house. He said, ‘well, it took five months, but we finally made it!’ I was quite touched by that, and as always, very impressed by Mandy’s progress. Every time I see her, she seems much improved over the last time. Her verbal skills have gotten so much better, and most of the time she talks perfectly well. In addition to her physical and verbal improvements, she just seems more and more like the old Mandy with each passing day. Her same old sense of humor is definitely back, and she said so many other wonderful, witty things in the course of the day. When they were gone, Dacia and I both were amazed at how much fun we’d
had having her over. A truly special day for us, and we’re looking forward to many, many more in the future. ~ Chris"

March 26, 2006 - Late Evening

From TAnn's day with Amanda on Friday. (The picture is from Friday; Amanda celebrating St. Chili's day from rehab!) "What a joy to be able to be with Amanda the entire day! I'm so very fortunate to be here and know how everyone that is so far away must feel (that’s how I felt the entire time she was in Savannah!) I'm so very glad she is near and I can spend so much time with her and Kurt.

Kurt goes every morning about 6:45 to give her that good morning kiss and see that she is OK and had a good night. He leaves at 7AM to go to work and we passed in the parking lot and were able to have a minute to chat before he was gone and I went to sign in to CNS. Kurt said they had Amanda up and in the shower about the time he left. He had never seen her up at that time before but the RA that was with her on Friday had her up and started before he left and I arrived. (Usually, she is still in bed and sometimes has dropped off to sleep when I arrive. I take her a warm washcloth to the bed to help her wake up and then we get ready to prepare for therapy.)

I asked her if she wanted coffee and she said yes so as they were in the shower (she has a shower chair as she still is unable to stand and put any weight on her left foot). I made coffee and started her breakfast.

Kurt (or Christine, sorry I can't recall which one) told me that on Thursday some of her friends from Brinker brought a 2006 Brinker shirt for her. As everyone at the office would be wearing the shirts on Friday, they asked that Amanda wear hers and they would be thinking of her all day. I had bought her a new warm-up to wear on Friday: a brilliant orange, and a white top (great colors on her!) But of course we switched from the white top and she wore the Chili's/Brinker shirt. She was all dressed so cute in her new shirt. [She’s so tiny that it was a little big on her, but we managed to pull the sleeves up enough so the could maneuver the wheels on her wheelchair and gets herself around.] It's easier for me to push her but CNS keeps stressing to us that we must allow / encourage her to do things for herself. She’s eating really well and ate a complete breakfast of yogurt, a cup of oatmeal, 2 glasses of juice, coffee and 2 glasses of water. You guessed it: we made a lot of "pit stops" throughout the day. LOL

She did her makeup beautifully and I got lipstick from her purse and she tucked it into her pocket so she would have it for the day. During the day, she refreshed it several times as we gals know we have to do. It was a cool crisp morning of 37° so I put her long coat on her. (She has struggle so long and so hard to get where she is and doesn't need to have a cold or flu!) I asked her if she wanted her sunglasses and she said yes so I got a cute photo of her with all bundled up wearing her sunglasses.

NOW ~~~ the wonderful part!!!!!! Speech Therapy was first and Kelly has her to transfer to a chair. They are working to help her relearn to make decisions, i.e., "Amanda, do you want to sit in a chair with arms or a chair without arms?" She decided to use the one with no arms and though that is no big deal for us, and she has been making decisions for herself for a while, those things are important for her to do. Together Amanda and Kelly then make the daily schedule. She is so much better at remembering all the questions that every therapist asks her. There is a list of about 20 or so of them. Two weeks ago she could not recall several of the questions with any consistency. She gets probably 95% of them correct now and they always give her positive reinforcement when she does well.

The exciting part is that Kelly moved Amanda to the computer room and they worked on memory program using numbers and she was awesome! There were 5 numbers on the screen and she was given the mouse and instructed what she was to do: when she had committed the 5 numbers to memory, left click and put the numbers in the exact order as she had seen them on the previous screen. The new screen shows 6 numbers though. It took a couple of times for Kelly to explain and go over the proper way to perform the task. BUT, when she understood the concept, she got the 5's all done 100%. Which means she had to put the 5 numbers in the correct order and leave the extra number out. YEAH!!!! LOL, there is no way I could / would have been able to do that well. She did perhaps 20 of those. Then they went to 6 numbers. Again she did 100%. At 7 numbers she was able to do 90% and when Kelly tried her with 8 numbers that was a bit much. It's great to watch her do so well and knowing that many of us would not be so good at the instant recall, she is amazing. Then she was given letters from the alphabet and asked to repeat the same exercise. She didn't do as well with letters; she stayed at 55%. But again, she is progressing and will do better soon I know.

We then returned to Kelly's office and Amanda had another task to look at 3 lines of numbers. The numbers were covered and Kelly asked her to tell her which numbers (3 of them) were on the middle row. Bingo! She did this correctly; reciting the top row, middle row, and bottom row. Up to 4 numbers and she did the same. But, trying to recall 5 numbers was a challenge. The lesson was repeated with letters and it was the same as before with the correct numbers being retained so much better than the letters.

Then, off to PT where we worked with Daniel. She did wonderful walking with the pole and Daniel tried something new that helped a lot. He removed her left shoe and the brace and wrapped her foot and ankle in an ace bandage which gave a lot of support to that left ankle. We made the 1,000 feet again but took a couple of rest stops. After he wrapped her ankle, he walked behind her and I supported her left hand. Though she tells us of her pain, she struggles and takes those very important steps. Daniel put his foot down to steady her left foot and that seemed to help give her even more stability. We ARE making progress. After the walk was over, he placed her foot back in the brace and she was able to wear it until about 6:30 PM when she said it was uncomfortable and removed her shoe and brace.

We went from PT to OT and worked with Nancy who asked those same "20 questions" and I think perhaps Amanda was a bit tired because she didn't do quite as well as with Kelly at 9AM but again she did better than last week and a great deal better than a month ago. Nancy brought out a large box with slots. Amanda was asked to place different colored tiles into the slots and she had to make decisions as to whether they went into "colors, letters, numbers or letters and numbers." Amanda immediately sorted the tiles by color. Nancy said that showed "extreme organizational skills" and Amanda beamed. As with the computer situation though, it takes a couple of times of explaining the concept before she can follow directions but one that information has "been processed" she proceeds with lightening speed. She is always timed for these activities and they note each improvement. But once she understood the concept she just flew through the tiles ~~~~ and Nancy was impressed at the short time she completed the project.

Lunch: Kurt always prepares her lunch and strives to give her a variety of foods. She likes bread and butter and he put a slice of buttered wheat bread in for her. When I offered it to her, she took a look at it and said: "No, thank you." I asked why she would not try it and she responded: "Well, it just doesn't look special." LOLOLOL. She really keeps us smiling.

Educational therapy was her last session for Friday and the therapist asked me not to sit in as she says that Amanda does better when there is just the 2 of them. Oh well, as much as I want to be with her all I possibly can; what I want more than that is for her to keep improving as fast as possible. So I can't tell you what happened in Educational Therapy.

Back to the apartment at 2:00 pm. It was in the upper 50's and the sun was shining so she didn't need the coat to wear on the return trip. However I offered her the sunglasses and she took them. Promptly folded them and put them in her lap. I asked if she wanted me to take them if she didn't want to wear them and she said no, that she would take care of them. I was at CNS waiting for the van and she rolled off the lift wearing the sunglasses. We are seeing more and more of her accepting responsibility for her actions and though we cannot predict anything following a TBI, we are continually hoping for all good things for Princess Amanda.

Back at the apartment she promptly went to the sofa and asked for a pillow to elevate her foot. She had a snack of some health bar and more water. I asked what she wanted and called out the snacks in the fridge and though she said no to everything, I offered a celery stick and she ate it. And another and several more. Given carrot sticks, those were also gone very soon. And lots and lots of water. She completed a People Magazine and decided to play on my laptop for a while so by 4:00 pm she was on the computer. I talked her through starting the computer and she decided to play a game. I have Bejeweled (a Yahoo game) and she spent 2 ½ hours playing it. Though she can't remember how to play the game, I help her and she is pleased when she makes high scores. I left and she and Kurt had dinner and when I returned, she was back with my laptop and Bejeweled. Kurt took his leave and she prepared for bed but took the laptop to bed and played until 9:30! I read her a story as she played and then she got sleepy. Most of the time now she remembers that I am with her all day Friday. She now can tell you her anniversary date and the year she and Kurt married. So we are joyous that she is coming along."

March 24, 2006 - Mid-Day

Although the size is off, pictures are working again! [NOTE: This picture is of Christine & Amanda making cheese before the accident.] We have 2 updates today. The first is general update with the results of her progress meeting and the second is the weekly update from Christine.

Amanda attended the update meeting for the first time and showed real irritation with being told (in her words) "what she's doing wrong". During the meeting, as she was reading one of the progress reports, she turned the therapist (in true Amanda fashion) and said,"just tell me what I have to do to fix it". LOL - Like the rest of us, she just wants to get right to the point. Although none of us want her to be upset, we have to remember that this is a good thing as first, she's so darn cute when she does it and second, it shows cognitive progress. After being reassured that everyone there was focused on helping her get better (and we all know that she does love a royal court), she seemed a little more soothed. There is still no scheduled release date, but her team believes that she is still on track for the average 3-4 months stay. She is showing improvement in her occupational, education, and speech therapies. (She's even exceeding some goals in the cognitive therapies which is a great sign. The better her cognitive skills are, the more she is able to play a more active role in and focus on the rest of her therapies.) Her vision specialist noted that she had 2 eyelashes growing in backwards and they removed them in her last visit (the cause of some of the recent irritation in her eye). She does have a small scratch on her cornea (from her inability to blink for so long), but it is not affecting her field of vision and her vision appears to be normal. Her residential rehab (independent living skills) are progressing. The foot is still the main "problem" area. She doesn't put weight on it voluntarily, which is an impediment to walking. The perceived "pain" level has improved and she is allowing more passive therapy, but she has quite a bit of work still to do to be walking again. They are planning on starting her on aqua therapy this month in an attempt to move her along. Overall, she continues to make progress and work hard. There will be another progress meeting in a motnh and we'll update everyone then.

And for more details on her day, Christine shares the following about the day yesterday: "Today was another wonderful day in Amandaland! She just cracks me up so many times throughout each day that I spend with her!

In PT, she gave Sarah a hard time again when it came to putting lotion on the left foot. Understandable, since she does feel pain there. While Sarah was coaxing Mandy to take off her shoe & sock, she mentioned something about T’Ann coming tomorrow. Mandy said “Oh Thomas Ann is such a b%&#@!” Sarah & I both defended T’Ann, saying how sweet she is, etc. Mandy just kept saying it, standing her ground. A few minutes later, I was assisting while Mandy was stepping up on a step with the left foot first. She looked at me & said “You’re right, Thomas Ann’s not a b%&#@.” I agreed, & thanked her for coming around. Then “She’s not because you are the b%#&@!” We asked why me now? “Because you are so mean to me! Look at what you are making me do!” It’s hard not to laugh at these moments…

In ED therapy today, we baked tomatoes with fresh garlic, sea salt (Mandy bought for me in France), fresh ground pepper & a mix of Italian cheeses. All I did was cut the tomatoes in half & do the oven part, Mandy put all the toppings on very neatly & carefully. We drew quite a crowd of spectators! The smell made it to all corners of CNS I think! Mandy loved her creation, and then she brought the leftovers down to Kelly & Leslie in Speech to share. While we were sitting at the table, Mandy started telling a story about my brother again, and how funny he was doing whatever he did. There were quite a few made up and/or mixed up words in this story so I’m not sure what she was talking about.

In the monthly meeting today, each therapist had a time slot scheduled to review their summary of the month & how Mandy has progressed. They were all very proud of her for working so hard, and Mandy had surpassed almost every goal that was set for her. One common factor that I noticed amongst her therapists, is that they all have seem to have a bit of a twinkle in their eyes when talking about her:) They all mentioned how much they enjoy working with Amanda…imagine that!!!"

March 19, 2005 - Early Morning

Blogger is still giving us problems posting pics, but we wanted to share TAnn's visit from Friday: "7:10 I arrived and she was a bit more awake. Her days always begin with Kurt arriving to give her a good morning kiss and see that she is OK before he goes to work. As it was St. Patrick's day and Kurt told her this, she slected some jeans with cross-stitch on the bottom (totally cute) and a green sweatshirt It's a bit chilly at CNS and she's so tiny that we try to see that she is warm...surely don't want her to get a cold as her little body is trying so much to heal other parts at this point in time.

So it's up and a shower for her and getting dressed. As she is still unable to stand in the shower, we move the shower chair in for her and the RA assists though Amanda does have the "hend held shower spray" and do a lot of that for herself. They always shampoo her hair and do at least part of the dressing in the bathroom. Amanda's schedule is the "early one" and her roomie, Amy, goes to CNS later.

Christine / Kurt had bought her a "Happy Shamrock Day" puffed felt ornament to wear and aftr she dried her hair, and we went to the living / dining / kitchen, I gave her the ornament and she tried to get it pinned on but was a bit frustrated that she couldn't get it on so I gave her a bit of help.

She ate her usual healthy breakfast of Yogurt with fruit (2 of them) and a couple of glasses of juice and of course her water. When I give her a glass of water, many times she says: "That's the best." We are fortunate that she really likes to eat healthy for I know that is a big part of why she is doing so well.

The nurse comes in and administers her morning meds and then she brushes her teeth and we vacate the bathroom so her roomie can get her day started. They commented at CNS that on Friday she "always looks so pretty" as I always get her makeup out so she can put it on. Kay, her counselor, commented on this and asked Amanda (we were with her from 1 - 2 PM) "Would you like to wear your makeup every day?" Amanda said, "Yes I would." So Kay said she would try to communicate with staff to give her access to her makeup every day as we are doing all we can to help her "be back to our Amanda" as soon as possible.

She has her backpack on the back of her wheelchair and Kurt told me it was her travel backback and serves well as a holder for her "memory book" and other items she might need duirng the day at CNS. We always take her glasses and medication for her left eye in the event that it nees attention. Kurt keeps lip gloss there for her but I always ask if she wants lipstick and so far she says "yes" every time. We get tissues, and put her lipstick so it is accessible for her; then her lunch (which Kurt lovingly and fiathfully prepares) goes on the back of her wheelchair.

So by 8:30 AM she is up, dressed with her makeup on beautifully and selected an orange lite jacket to wear over the green sweatshirt. They have an enormous van with a lift and the residents are wheeled, or some can wheel themselves to the van, but they wait in line to roll the chairs on the lift. They have a safety strap that is fastened in back of the resident's chair and they are required to have 2 people (one on each side of the resident) as the lift takes the chair up to the van. It's about 2 - 3 feet but they are very careful with them.

Sometimes we have to wait in line to board the van, hence the necessity for the little jacket / coat or whatever. And, sometimes she is on the van for 10-15 minutes waiting for other residents to be safely boarded or assisted. It is so touching to see the staff there tirelessly work with each one and know their level of care needed. Once on the van she tranfers to a regular seat and the chair is folded and sometimes it is transported on yet another van and awaits her arrival at CNS. Some residents cannot transfer so the ones who can are encouraged to sit in the seats on the van.

As i said before, they ALWAYS comment on how pretty she looks and she smiles and she ALWAYS says "thank you" as the gracious little lady she is. What a rare and lovely treasure we hae in her!

As soon as she is safely boarded, I go to "her window" blow her a kiss, and I drive to CNS; about 5 miles? and wait for her to arrive. Again whe she arrives, she receives the same compliments and never fails to say thank you.

We are off to place her lunch in the refrigerator and I tell her we put it there so it will say fresh and we will get it at lunch time. With TBI's repetition is important so they can begin to "process" ritual and daily ctivities. Long ago I raised a little boy and understand the necessity of saying "wash your ears" several times. It's much the same with a TBI: explain WHAT we are doing then tell WHY we are doing that particular thing.

We check the daily schedule, go to the first session. Speech is usually first and I'm glad they have switched her for her communication is much better now that she goes there first for she is more alert in the earlier part of the day. Yesterday was much the same, i.e., make the daily schedule, alphabetize, identify photos, etc.

PT was next and the entire session was spent alternately pacing her feet in warm and cold water. She doesn't like doing this at all (nor would I) and is very verbal saying "This sucks!" each time. I try to keep her distrcted as Sara times her sessions of one minute in the warm and one in the cold. Her right foot is left in the bucket of warm water all the time. They say this helping to desentize her brain and help with the discomfort she continually feels in her left foot. So, no walking at all yesterday ~~~

OT was spent in a session with Sandra (therapist) and another TBI who comes daily to the center. Ron is 58 but told us he was 22. Amanda had been saying for weeks she was 46 but now continually states her correct age of 40. YEA! Progress!!! We each stated our name, age, where we from and then we were each asked to repeat each person's name, age, etc. LOL, though I remembered every name, I didn't remember the ages of the 4 of us.

Amanda was able to say every name, and her age and my age. She didn't remember Sandra's or Ron's but she really tried....things we take so easily for granted are things she must relearn. I'm grateful for each bit of progress I see but it is still heartbreaking to see her struggle so much.

Lunch. Again it is important to give her one item at a time as there are many distractions in the dining area. Everyone eats at the same time and they have a huge TV showing (well it is shown on the back wall) CNN repeating the same news ... She is seated with her back to the wall so she can / will focus on eating. She usually does pretty well but LOL, yesterday Kurt had made her a grilled cheese. Staff warmed it for her so it would tase better. She cook a couple of bies but that was all. I asked her why she wouldn't eat it and she said, "Well, it's not special" Kurt smiled when I told him about that last evening.

After lunch the only thing remaining was counseling and I mentioned the blog to Kay who was very interested in checking this out and she promptly retrieved her laptop and logged on. Amanda didn't remember that we have this set up for her but was very interested and wanted to see the site. Kay read the report of last Friday to Amanda and stopped frequently to comment / discuss things with Amanda. When asked why she is at CNS and how she got hurt, usually she says it was an automobile accident. Yesteray, she said "I got my foot hurt" but later she will be able to recall how / why she is at CNS. Just one of the things we keep saying over and over.......

Kay asked Amanda if she would like to log on to the blog at home and read it and she said she would so I communicated this to Kurt. The days pass quickly when they are home on Saturday and Sunday and he will do his best to see that she gets to read it if there is time and she feels like doing it. Kurt said that ya'll had intened for her to be able to read / reply to people as soon as shc can so to the writers / readers, keep checking for she may soon be able (maybe with assistance from Kurt) be able send some short messages...we sincerely hope so.

Back to her apartment where she went to the sofa and was completely absored in People magazine. I take them weekly from the Dr's office where I work and she reads it from cover to cover. Everything! So she is becoming more and more aware of things "outside Amanda" and that is another good sign.

She always has a healthy snack and again had yogurt and several pieces of celery Kurt had cut for her. Water....lotz of it! We elevate her foot but YEA again, yesterday she kept her brace on the entire day except for the time in PT where she was doing the water in the bucket thing. She did not ask for her shoe and the brace to be removed until after Kurt arrived. That is more progres as she usually wants to remove her shoe / brace when she arrives at her apartment.

Kurt needed to get the oil changed and a flat tire repaired so he didn't arrive at the usual 4:30 so I explained to Amanda that he was taking care of things (told her exactly what he was doing as it is important for us to help her understand events as they relate to time and her schedule.)

He prepared ham and steamed asparagus for her and she ate fairly well. Seems she eats better when he is there with her and again I see that as positive and her feeling of reconnecting to their life together. Back to the sofa to finish the issue of People she was reading. Again I cannot tell you how very much Kurt is doing a fantastic job of caring for her. He is so patient and continually shows his love for her....every woman should have such a loving husband. He is amazing....=
Kurt is doing well. We share the evenings, i.e., he goes immediately after work and lets me have the 7:30 until she goes to sleep. That way he can accomplish what he needs to at home such as taking care of errands, etc.

Oh, I must share this with you and you can decide what to post. We all know Amanda has this most marvelous personality.........

Last Monday evening I met a friend of mine at a swanky local restaurant where we celebrated our birthdays together. Mine was in January but I was't in much of a mood to celebrate and Yolanda's is this month. I wore black pants and a velvety top to the office and changed before I left the hospital to a long black skirt that is slit both front and back. I took my pants so I could change at Amanda's apartment. I had on black 3" heels and the heels are gold metallic. (I THINK THIS IS WONDERFUL - I walked in and gave my usual greeting of "How's Amanda today?" she said fine. THEN: "You're dressed like a slut!" Just completely cracked us up! I was crying for I was so thrilled that she is "processing" my style of dress and that is something she would say to me if she thought that.....

Kurt said, "Amanda!" And LOL, she said, "Well she is. She's 65 and dressed that way." I was elated! So not that I want everyone to know that I was wearing 3" heels and a slit skirt, but it's great that she is having her former thoughs..........LOL, guess it's good to be honest?

Kurt left for the evening about 8ish for he has to get his daily "Amanda Fix" and we got ready for bed. Elevate the foot and finished People. Again she amazed me by folding the magazine and saying: "Thomas Ann, tell me what is on your mind." WoW! What a gal! So we had a fairly good conversation for I told her I was thinking of her and being grateful for all of the progress she is maing, etc. She still gets her words mixed up at times and does not identify things correctly but for the most part we do understand what she is tring to communicate.
Today is a rainy day in this area but hopefully she and Kurt will have two wonderful days together.

Another sign of progress: one evening last week (can't recall which one as I'm there 4 eveings) Kurt was telling her good night and she said: "Do you have the car keys or do you want me to drive?" I know this might seem trivial but it's all good stuff.........so post whatever you wish but I don't want to be too repetive. But my dear, this is her life for now and Kurt is alwys there for her.

March 17, 2006 - Late Afternoon

[Picture to come!]

From Christine and her day yesterday with the princess. (She's the statuesque brunette in the picture). "I brought Amanda a rosebush today, with a large pot & some dirt for planting. She smiled & said “Oh, that is so cute!” We (meaning Mandy watched) potted it later in the afternoon. There are 2 bright pink roses in full bloom & 1 on the way. Mandy said “When that 3rd one opens, I’m going to cut it & put it on the table”. Just like old times!

This morning, I went with Mandy to her eye doctor appointment, where Dr. Gilliland was very pleased with how well her left eye is looking these days! Thsi took the place of all morning therapy.

Mandy & I used to take classes at Central Market, the 1st one being a Wine & Cheese Pairing class hosted by Paula Lambert. She is the author of “The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook & Guide”. Back in 2002, she wrote in her book to us, “For Christine & Amanda-So fabulous to hear that you love to cook together. I hope many happy meals come from my book! Best Wishes-Paula Lambert”. Mandy & I thought of her as a celebrity as we took a few of her classes at Central Market & then the Cheese Making Class at The Mozzarella Company. I brought this cookbook for Mandy today, as well as the pictures from our class. She spent about an hour this afternoon reading stories that precede each recipe. When she saw the pictures, she said, “Wow, I do recognize this”. :o)

Mom, Grandma Sue and Kevin joined us for lunch today. Mandy ate very well, spitting out nothing for a change! Kurt is making some great meals for her, full of fresh veggies & fruits, and lots of variety so meals are not repetitive or boring! What a sweet hubby!

When asked about her lunch, she said, “your brother made the soup”, & went on to tell us about how “his daughter would not eat it so he gave it to us”. While Sean didn’t make her lunch today, he did cook when he lived with us for a while, and Amanda loved it all! And his daughter, Taylor, won’t eat much of anything so most of her story was right on!

The only therapy, that we were able to attend, was with Keri, making blueberry cheesecake muffins. Mandy did most of the work & they turned out very well, attracting lots of attention with the smell! Next week, we get to bake tomatoes with fresh garlic & parmesan:) YUM!

My favorite part of the day was when I was assisting Amanda with something. She stopped, held my hand and said, “I want you to be my main person”. No offense to her wonderful staff of RA’s, but this would be my preference too!!"

March 16, 2006 - Mid-Morning

From TAnn (she's other cute red head in the picture), whom spends every Friday and many evenings with our princess at CNS.

"I try to be at CNS at 7AM and arrive just about the time Kurt is leaving for work. She's still a bit sleepy due to her evening meds but she is always cheerful and when I ask her how she is, she's always "fine." What a trooper!

As she is getting her shower, I make her coffee and get her breakfast prepared. She eats very healthy and that is a plus for her I know. So it's 2 or 3 yogurts, 1 or 2 cups of coffee, 2 - 3 glasses of juice and at least one glass of water. So much for keeping her hydrated. Then we select what she wants to wear for the day at CNS. I try to help her be coordinated and we had a really great day last Friday.

Last Thursday night when I went in, I was wearing my mink vest and she rubbed it and said, "I want that" LOL. I asked her if she wanted to wear it for a while and she slipped it on. Kurt snapped a photo of her wearing red sweats and the mink vest ~~ adorable! I told her we weren't going anywhere that evening but she could wear it. So when I went in Friday, AM, I took the vest for her to wear. We selected some chocolate pants and a white turtleneck that went really great with the mink vest. After getting dressed and having her breakfast, she did her makeup and of course it was perfect! (I got her a mirror or set on the table so she can see to do her makeup and she is very organized and reaches for the product she needs next for "her look.")

Speech therapy was first and she always makes a "daily schedule" and writes her name, the date, and where she will be each hour. Sometimes she knows and sometimes she doesn't know the day of the week and the month but she is getting better...though last Friday she kept insisting it was December. Guess she needs to have a December as she lost hers but the therapists help her write the correct month, etc. She carries the schedule with her from one session to the next and they are trying to help her understand time on the clock as it relates to where she is at that particular time.

She was given the first 13 letters of the alphabet and asked to put them in order; took a couple of tries but she did get them correct. Then she was shown pictures and asked to identify the objects. She got 80% of them correct and that is an improvement and they always brag on her when she gets one correctly. The therapist read 2 sentences and asked her questions about what was read to her. Most of the time she remembered fairly well. Got some things confused but she really really tries and is always so very cooperative in doing whatever they ask her to do.

Next they gave a sheet and she was asked to find all of the As. When that was completed, she was to find all of the ABs. Then, all of the ABCs., etc. Then we went to PT. I read the blog and I see people say she "walks" but she must do stuff that I don't see for she never actually walks unless she has a walker or is pushing the grocery cart they have for her and that helps with balance and gives her support.
But she was given a Ndt pole. Can't recall the name of it right now but I'll get it for you...and with the pole and a great deal of support from Sarah, she did quite well. I'm her cheerleader and I walk backwards and talk to her and encourage her. With each step I brag on her and we go fantasy shopping and talk of things we'll shop for when she is walking better and able to go to the mall. I asked if she had rather go to Target or Nordstrom and you know where she picked! Not Target ~ LOL.
Next was OT and she spent the entire time searing for "Things that begin with B" in a very colorful placemat. Some she found and some she didn't ever find but it was a challenge for me also and I don't have a TBI.

Lunch. She did very well with her lunch but we have found that we must place one item in front of her at a time. Even if she says she doesn't want it, I'll give her a spoon / fork and she will begin to eat. Kurt prepares her lunch in the evening when he is there and then he double checks it each morning adding the drinks for the day. But if she has carrots or celery, we must give her one piece at a time. She will usually complete everything if it is given to her slowly and just whatever she can "process" at that specific moment.

Each session is an hour and the 1PM hour is Educational Therapy. It is much the same as the other sessions ....but we know with TBIs that you must constantly repeat the same information to help the person reintegrate information. Her day is over at 2PM and we are off to the apartments. As I cannot ride on the van with her. I see her on the van then I drive to CNS and am there when she arrives. She's usually a bit tired and sometimes she wants to take a nap and sometimes she wants to read or me to read to her but that is time to relax for Kurt arrives at 4:30. I always leave so they have some time together...I return about 7:30 and he can have time to get some errands done.

I go Mon - Thurs at 7ish and Kurt leaves. He is there from 4:30 until I arrive. I help her get ready for bed. We have a ritual of brushing her teeth, cleaning her face, toner, moisturizer and brushing her hair. We change her clothes and get on fresh sleeping things. They are scheduled to give her evening meds at 8 but seldom do it on time. I always stay until she goes to sleep. I read to her every night and she just lays there and listens to every word. So that is a rundown of the days ~ she has a great deal of work to do each day and it is hard on me to watch her struggle to take each step as she is in a great deal of pain. I just want to do whatever I can to help her get better. Her little foot is always ice cold and I don't like my feet to be cold so I try to keep warm sox on her."

Side Note: Amanda's next update from the staff regarding her progress will be next week. We're all looking forward to hearing about the advances she's made in the past month!

March 11, 2006 - Late Morning

From Christine, a recap of her visit with Amanda on Thursday,"In Speech this morning, Mandy flew through the task of memorizing/repeating 5 numbers in order…then 6, then 7. Then she was given 6 numbers & was asked to repeat them back in numerical order, which she did extremely fast. Next, she moved on to a computer game in which she had 6 seconds to memorize 6 numbers & then place them all correctly in order. Mandy kept clicking past the timer (guess it was boring her) to get right to placing the numbers! Kelly didn’t even know this was possible, since nobody has ever tried it before! Kelly reset the timer down to 3 seconds, and once again, Mandy skipped past it. Then she tried to set up a new game after seeing Kelly do it only once!

In PT with Sarah, or “Smelly” as Mandy called her a couple of times, we put her feet in buckets of water, alternating cold & warm. This is to help improve circulation. We went ahead & shaved her legs during the warm water time. While this was going on, Sarah asked Mandy if she would like to go to my house some Saturday. Mandy said, “Yes, I would”. When asked what she would like to do there, she replied, “I want to cook”. Yeah!!! Me too!! Mandy then walked around CNS & onto Occupational Therapy.

Here in OC, she sorted colored chips, placing them in slots. Some had numbers & letters, while some were only plain colors. She seemed to enjoy color-coding all of the chips on the desk before placing them where they belong.

In Counseling with Kay, we played UNO again. This time Mandy let me win a couple of rounds:) Amanda insisted on playing the incorrect card even though she agreed that it didn’t match. She said, “I’m changing how the game plays”! Anybody ever seen this side of her?? When Kay played the “Draw Two” card on Mandy, she asked her if she knew what that meant…Mandy replied “It means you are stupid”.
Kay asked lots of questions while we played. Each therapist asks the same orientation questions about the date, her age, where we are & why, etc. She stated that we are all at CNS “so we can all get drunk”!

When we arrived back at the apartment, we played Go Fish & Boggle for about an hour. Her left foot was throbbing, so she relaxed on the couch with it elevated watching TV.

Throughout the day, Mandy called me by my name regularly. I don’t really remind her of whom I am any more. I just show up with smiles & hugs and she reciprocates. Last week, she said I was “her neighbor”. It’s been 2.5 years since I lived across the street from her, so we just guess that the time we spent together as neighbors stands out the most in her mind. That is when we spent time together almost daily:)

I encourage you all to visit her & play games & spend time at CNS with her. Amanda has made amazing progress! She works hard, doing almost everything asked of her and most of the time smiling that beautiful smile of hers:)"

PS A portion of the famous (or is that infamous?) snowglobe collection can be seen in the picture.

March 1, 2006 - Mid-Morning

The first day of March and our princess continues to improve. Kurt stops by in the morning before work to wake her up and get her started on her day. She spends all day in pretty intensive therapies. She is able to fully participate in her therapies now. (Although some of her answers aren't quite on track yet. When asked why she's there, she responds "car accident" and when asked what was injured, she responds "her foot".) Her recognition and memory is improving. She now recognizes some of her frequent visitors consistently (Tann and Kurt) or with increasing regularity. Her foot is still causing her pain (she is not able to walk on her own at all yet), but she is complaining about it less. She is back to her "beauty routine" (making up her face) and asked for her jewelry. Although we're not able to leave her valuable jewelry with her, TAnn picked her up some rhinestone jewelry to wear instead. And we hope that just like prior to the accident, she is showing it to everyone and insisting that they admire her "real" and "valuable" jewelry before dissolving into a fit of giggles.