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.
posted by B.B. @ 9:41 AM
22 Comments:
At 11:07 AM,
Anonymous said…
Mandy has shown me her jewelry. She seems quite proud of it, even though I haven't heard any giggles yet. (That will be a great day!) I'll be sure to admire everything about her, jewelry included, when I visit today.
Terri
At 11:51 AM,
Anonymous said…
I can't wait for the day she starts singing, "You are so beautiful..." to her jewelry. :)
I love the pic of Mandy today, it brought tears to my eyes. I miss you Mandy and will see you tomorrow!
~Jessica
At 2:20 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hey Mandy. Hope you're doing well today. I'm sure you'll have a great lunch visiting with Terri. You are such an inspiration of courage and drive. Keep chuggin along sweet thing! Missing you and hope to see you soon.
Rene
At 3:32 PM,
Anonymous said…
Happy March Amanda!
I can't believe it is already March. It's great weather today - I hope you get a chance to enjoy the sunshine.
Terri told us a bit about her short lunch with you - it seems like you are in good spirits. I love to hear that.
Keep up the good work!
Love,
Kelly B.
At 4:09 PM,
Anonymous said…
Mandy was lovely at lunch today, from her shiny hair, to her fully made-up face, to - of course - the jewelry! She was in a good mood, and the only thing that messed up our visit was when they came to get her for a doctor appt. after I'd been there about 15 - 20 minutes.
She seemed to be thinking about the words she was going to say, and she got many of them right. She did tell a funny story about Dan Hunt going with her to a bathroom that they didn't want you in for more than zero minutes. She said a guy came in and told her she couldn't use that bathroom. She needed to go and he didnt' even care! (I told her that it might have been a men's room if Dan was with her!) Anyway, Dan, maybe you can relate this to some adventure in the past??
Oh well, short but sweet, it was a good visit.
Love you, Mandy!
Terri
At 4:13 PM,
Anonymous said…
Oh, I forgot another good thing about my visit with the princess! I told her that Lori and Jessica are going to visit her tomorrow at the apartment, instead of at CNS. She said, "That's good. Then I will be done with the learnings and will be able to have talking with them." I thought that was great, she will be done with therapy and can visit and talk with them! She said this very slowly, and I could tell she was choosing the words carefully. She is working so hard, and I'm so very proud of her!
Terri
At 4:50 PM,
Anonymous said…
Been wanting to leave a message for such a long time, just never knowing what to say...everyone misses Amanda.
The days seemed to have flown by, but still miss her very much.
Dottie
At 6:01 PM,
Anonymous said…
Princess Amanda,
Hi. Glad to hear that the progress continues and the attitude is forever present. We love you and keep praying for you.
Love,
Sasha, Mila and Paul
At 9:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
Today Mandy's Mom & Grandma visited her at the apartment. Mom stuck her head in the front door & said, "Did I just see you bring Amanda in here?" Mandy was in the bathroom, but yelled out "Hey Mom!" just from hearing her voice. Then she continued to call them each “Mom & Grandma”, requested to sit by Grandma, etc. They were elated at how great the visit went.
Mandy, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!!! It’s the best day of the week every week!
I love you!
Christine
At 5:46 PM,
Anonymous said…
Kurt is the President! At least that was Mandy’s answer to “Who is the President?” Scary thought:) Later in the day she answered correctly.
In Speech Therapy with Emily, Amanda took words that were scrambled & put them in order to make complete sentences…very quickly! Feb. 9th, when given this task, she wouldn’t even follow directions. The notes in her chart from yesterday showed some very high scores & all ended with “!” because her therapist was so excited about the progress!
In Physical Therapy with Sarah, she was asked to put her left foot in a bucket with warm water, & then move it to cold water. Amanda chose to go ahead & dip both feet! During that 10 minutes, Sarah told me how PT went yesterday. Mandy was walking, using a pole for balance, not too excited about the task. She told Sarah “I f%#*ing hate you”. Today she told Sarah that she loves her. Obviously, this is a love/hate relationship!
In Occupational Therapy, Sandra had Amanda place colorful wooden shapes onto a placemat with a pattern to follow. When asked, Mandy chose the easiest one first, but quickly moved on to the hardest ones & completed them all in no time! Sandra told me that on Feb. 17th, she was unable to complete one task per session. Now she does about 6 & very well! I’m so proud of her for working so hard every day!
Her last therapy of the day was with Kay, her counselor. The three of us played UNO, & Amanda whipped our butts twice! During the “question part” of this hour, Kay asked Amanda, “What part of your body did you injure when you fell?” Right away, Mandy replied, “my brain”. This is the 1st time Mandy has answered this correctly for Kay.
Mandy was wearing her t-shirt with the little puppy dressed in a Halloween costume. She received many compliments & graciously said, “I know, he is very pretty”. She did show me her rings & bracelet today, plus asked to see my wedding ring to compare.
I left her while she was napping at the apartment, resting up for Lori & Jessica. When I reminded Amanda that they were coming, she smiled really big & said “Oh, how sweet.” Then she told me later that they were “funny girls”.
It was another great day in Amandaville!
Christine
At 7:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
Amanda, as always you are so cute. I love that you are getting better every day - that is so awesome! It sounds like you're working hard every day with your therapists and I am so proud of how far you've come! I look forward to seeing you soon.
Love Lj
At 9:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
Amanda,
I'm glad to hear that you are getting better everyday. Keep it up!!!
Thanks for the update Christine!
April Hylander
At 10:10 PM,
Anonymous said…
One more interesting story…
Amanda was adamant about Sarah (PT) not touching that left foot. Then she went to OT, where Sandra took a soft brush (one that you would remove corn silk with) and rubbed it on all of Amanda’s appendages in a massaging manner. She started with the arms & hands & then worked her way down the legs, asking Mandy to name the body parts as she was touching each one. When Sandra got down the left leg to the foot, Mandy didn’t flinch at all. Then Sandra actually pushed up on the bottom of the foot, pressing on top of the knee at the same time. She put some pretty good pressure there & still not a peep out of Mandy! Something about Sandra’s approach…
Good night now!
Christine (& Pooh in my lap:)
At 11:50 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Mandy.
Just thinking about you & missing you a lot lately. I know I just saw you yesterday, but it feels like forever!!
In business, things seem to be going well, which could mean I'll get to spend more time with you, next month. Gotta keep praying for BIG things to happen!
I love you.
Christine
At 1:56 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hello Mandy! What a small world. I just found out a couple of weeks ago that the Man who takes care of my lawn, is a close friend of Christine's, and you and Kurt both know him (Mike). How strange and what a small world! He is a very nice man. I hope you had a good week. I've thought of you often. I am definitely coming to see you next week after work one day. I want to see you in your apartment. I can't wait to see you and hope you're doing well. Miss you!
Love, Rene
At 9:02 AM,
Anonymous said…
aunt mandy,
i am sooo happy that you are getting better!! i love you very much and i pray for you every night! i love you so much and maybe i can come down there this summer! well i love you very much and keep improving cause i know you will!! i am soo happy for you!!! i love you!!!!!!!!!!!
love your niece,
~Kelsey~
At 12:09 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Mandy
Keep up the good work. Sounds like yor are trying very hard and it is paying off... You go girl or I should say Princess!!!!!
Thank you Christine for your updates, they are always such fun to read and full of hope... Thanks to the rest who keep us updated.
Hugs
Kathi in Wisconsin
At 3:17 PM,
Anonymous said…
Sweet Mandy!
Jake and me miss you , think of you , and pray for your total healing each and every day!
With all our hearts and prayers
Janet and Jake Wagner
At 2:29 AM,
Anonymous said…
Dearest Mandy,
You have avery dedicated following of good people, they are wonder to read about and what they say to you and about is always nice to hear.
You just kepp swiming towards them all kid, you just swiming. You are making good progress, this is not easy stuff to do, but you are making it look easy cause you are doing so well. We all love you kiddo all of us relatives and friends alike.
Love Paul
At 2:08 PM,
Anonymous said…
Way to go Mandy. I think you will be home soon. I am so glad you are doing good. Haven't written in a long time but I think of you and Kurt often and check the blog for updates every couple of days.
Maybe we can see some pictures of you and the jewerly.Keep going girl.
Love,
Cousin Jill
At 7:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
Mandy was doing well today when I visited. She was more interested in watching CNN (which was on in the lunchroom) than in conversing very much, but she was in good spirits. The RA's told me that she is still doing great in therapy. And she did a great job with her lunch - she ate more than I'm used to seeing her eat, even pre-injury!
It wasn't an eventful visit, but that's okay. It's always nice to spend time with Mandy, and I'm already looking forward to seeing her again.
Terri
At 11:06 AM,
Corinna B. said…
Prayer, love and hugs from Houston Texas. Last night I had a dream with Mandy in it. (She was chatting away telling me a story.) Glad to hear of all the progress, checking blog for updates religiously.
-Corinna B.
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