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."