April 17, 2006 - Late Evening

Mandy had quite the Easter weekend with lots of progress and good stuff all around. Kurt and Mandy had a nice weekend planned at Mineral Wells (a state park in Texas). Although Mandy is not able to spend the night away from CNS yet, we were able to drive her there and back on both Friday and Saturday. In addition to the traditional camping crew, Ron and Brenda flew in to visit and see how much progress the princess has made in the past three and a half months.

There was no skipping any therapy though – the Princess worked her butt off in therapy on Good Friday before heading out to join Kurt at the park. Per our request, her PT folks really pushed her and she let them know how very unhappy she was about much of it. Although she still uses a wheelchair to get from place to place, she is practicing walking. With cheerleading from Renee C. and Brenda she did the most walking she’s done yet in a single day (per her therapists). She walked around the outside and the inside of the building twice during her PT and then once again both inside and outside at the end of the day. She uses a long pole and a PT walks next to her helping to support her and ensure that she’s balanced and won’t fall. (Safety first!) Her left foot is still a challenge; it swells up and turns red so it’s kept in a brace when she’s walking. It truly does look painful to walk on, but she must walk on it on her road back to independence. And true to form, she lets everyone in the near vicinity know how very much doing that hurts her in language that would school a sailor. Luckily, that seems to be pretty much the case with a few of the other PT patients.

After an intensive day of therapy, she headed out to Mineral Wells to catch up with Kurt and the rest of the camping crew. On Friday we settled her into a chair at one of the campsites and she seemed to really enjoy sitting outside, seeing her camping friends and working on the ever present word searches. On Saturday, she caught a piggy back ride from her big brother down the rocky trail to the rock climbing site. She had a prime view of all climbers sweating it out in the sun, while she sat in the shade with a puzzle book in true princess fashion.

Sunday was a recuperative day back at home spent with the puzzle books, music, going to lunch and welcoming Kurt back home. Today (Monday), she was back at therapy with a vengeance. She used the treadmill for the first time (like a champ, she went 10 minutes), the slant box for another 10 minutes (it’s a box where her feet are pushed up at an angle, toes up and is used to stretch out that short tendon in the “bad foot” as we call it), and a trip around the center. She also really enjoyed doing solitaire on the computer after finishing her lunch.

Per Brenda and Ron, her cognitive and speech abilities are leaps and bounds ahead of where she was in January. She is able to participate in most conversations and make herself understood (particularly when she doesn’t like something!). She forgets the right words sometimes and will find new combinations of words that can sound quite poetic. (For example, the forgotten word “menu” is transformed into “flaming document”). Or should even those words fail her, she’ll be the creative girl we know her to be and just make up a new word on the spot. But you can generally follow her about 75% of the time now as opposed to the reverse percentage a few months ago. Although she doesn’t really understand being teased yet, she’s capable of teasing you at times. (She enjoyed showing Ron the contents of her mouth at dinner before giggling to herself a few times). For those that are fans of the pig noises and monkey call; you’ll be happy to know that she has fully regained the ability to do both. At our request, she was making us all grin in the car on the way to Mineral Springs with numerous renditions of both. She’s also begun taking a real interest in things going on around her more frequently. When in the car, she’ll ask questions about what road she’s on or where you’re at and even (on occasion) compliment the driver or make comments about other drivers. Of course, like all of us, she has her “up” moments and “down” moments. When she is “up” she is on her game and fully alert and interactive and when she’s “down” she’s very tired and has difficulty finding the words she wants or being as helpful or pleasant as she normally is. (It’s just a bit more pronounced because of her head injury.)

As a final note, Mandy was telling us this weekend that she had wanted to write and send out cards for the Easter holiday but felt it was a little too late. We assured her that everyone would love to hear from her no matter when it was received, but she didn’t seem too convinced. So instead, on her behalf, we wish everyone a very happy Easter and hope that the Easter bunny was good to each and every one of you. Mandy sends you her love.