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!!!"