I write this post from the Vancouver airport, during a 5 hour layover on my way to Regina, SK. I'm taking an extremely short trip out there (returning Sunday) to look for a house for Bridget and I to rent for next year. I still think it's totally crazy for me to be leaving Bridget during this time, but logically it makes sense to head out now, and Bridget is in good hands with Sheila while I'm gone. I am sad that I won't get to see her in action during therapy though. Wish me luck that I'll only need this one trip out to find the perfect place, so I won't have to leave Bridget again!
Bridget's appetite remains voracious, which is the one funny thing that has come out of this surgery, for everyone, including Bridget. She just wolfs down her dinner, and slurps down protein shakes like nobody's business. While zombies need brains for food, it appears brains need food for, well, brains. Go brain go!
During one of Bridget's OT sessions yesterday she temporarily regained some sensation in her upper right arm. A difficult sensation to describe, she says, but something that told her that her arm was "there". The therapist was having her do some arm stretching exercises, and is just suddenly appeared, like BAM! However, later that night it had disappeared again. But if it can reappear once, I'm sure it will be back. I guess it was just a tease!
Yesterday, while Bridget was napping, she also woke herself up by smacking herself in the face with her (numb) right hand. Probably just a coincidence, but she and I speculated that her brain was trying to do something to reorganize itself with respect to that arm's functioning. However, it may also have been her right hand trying to get back at her brain for disrupting it's sensation.
I had wanted to post a video for all of you of Bridget outside in the sunshine that I took a few days ago. It was Bridget's first time outside of the hospital in two weeks! But sadly, I left my camera at home, so I cannot share right now. Forgetting my camera also sucks because I wanted to show Bridget the possible new houses for us in Regina. Oh well.
In my absence, I probably won't be posting too much, as I'll only get quick phone updates from Bridget. But I'll be back to daily posts on Monday. Also on Monday my Dad is coming out for a short visit (form the 2nd-5th). I am really looking forward to that! Yay for family!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
3 more weeks
Bridget's rehab team met today to determine the course of Bridget's therapy. They figure that Bridget will be in the rehab unit for another 3 weeks or so from today. So, this is the official evidence that the time frame we initially thought Bridget's surgery would follow (which you can find on the right-hand side of this page) is way off. But I think Bridget will shock the team with a very rapid recovery!
Bridget's Mom Sheila arrived last night, and was so impressed with how much Bridget has improved. The last time she saw her, just a week ago, she was still hooked up to IVs and was nowhere near as active as she is now. So far there have been small improvements in Bridget's symptoms everyday, but to see 7 days worth all at once is quite exciting and encouraging. Sheila also trucked some of Bridget's favorite ice cream from Eugene - Prince Puckler's Muddy River. They just don't make ice cream like this is Seattle!
Today in PT Bridget took some steps with a walker - with a lot of help and support of course. She's still a long way from walking on her own, but gets closer each day. Gotta train that brain by moving that body!
Bridget also wishes she could take a movie of what she sees with her crazy double vision. For the last few days at times the image from one eye has been tilted about 45 degrees relative to the other image. A few times last week she also reported that one of the images was closer than the other image (like one was zoomed in). These are definitely errors in the brain, and not errors in the eyes! But hopefully these weird perceptual distortions are evidence that her brain is trying to figure out how to solve this problem.
Bridget's Mom Sheila arrived last night, and was so impressed with how much Bridget has improved. The last time she saw her, just a week ago, she was still hooked up to IVs and was nowhere near as active as she is now. So far there have been small improvements in Bridget's symptoms everyday, but to see 7 days worth all at once is quite exciting and encouraging. Sheila also trucked some of Bridget's favorite ice cream from Eugene - Prince Puckler's Muddy River. They just don't make ice cream like this is Seattle!
Today in PT Bridget took some steps with a walker - with a lot of help and support of course. She's still a long way from walking on her own, but gets closer each day. Gotta train that brain by moving that body!
Bridget also wishes she could take a movie of what she sees with her crazy double vision. For the last few days at times the image from one eye has been tilted about 45 degrees relative to the other image. A few times last week she also reported that one of the images was closer than the other image (like one was zoomed in). These are definitely errors in the brain, and not errors in the eyes! But hopefully these weird perceptual distortions are evidence that her brain is trying to figure out how to solve this problem.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Rehab videos
Bridget requested that I take videos of her doing her rehab activities, for you guys to see what she's working on and so that she can look back at how much improvement she's made herself. So I took a couple of short videos of her doing stuff in her morning session of PT and her afternoon session of OT today. For some reason blogger isn't letting me post the PT video (maybe too long?), so that is lame.
But here is Bridget during OT, doing some pegboard work:
Today in PT she also took a couple of assisted steps on the parallel bars, and did much better with these than she did the previous day, and they tired her out considerably less. And both of her therapists independently commented on how much better her balance and sitting was today, and were very impressed with the difference between today and yesterday! Bridget chalks it up to a) having friends visit and b) Haribo Gummy Bears (thanks Stephan!). But we all know it is really her unrelenting determination to get better!
But here is Bridget during OT, doing some pegboard work:
Today in PT she also took a couple of assisted steps on the parallel bars, and did much better with these than she did the previous day, and they tired her out considerably less. And both of her therapists independently commented on how much better her balance and sitting was today, and were very impressed with the difference between today and yesterday! Bridget chalks it up to a) having friends visit and b) Haribo Gummy Bears (thanks Stephan!). But we all know it is really her unrelenting determination to get better!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Rehab is working
Bridget is now almost through her second full day of rehab. Boy oh boy, do they keep her busy! But it is a good thing, as I can already see that she is improving with each day.
Bridget's current impairments are so severe that she finds great difficulty in doing simple things that our brains do unconsciously for us. For instance, it doesn't seem like we have to "do" anything to sit upright in a chair. But for Bridget, multiple problems get in the way of performing this task. For one, Bridget has no idea where the center of her body is in space, so she doesn't know if she's sitting up straight or not, or even if she's looking straight forward or not. Second, she can't really feel the right side of her body. So when she does try to center herself, she leans considerably to her left, because that's the side of her body she can feel, and thus tries to center according to that half (but the body, of course, cannot be balanced on one side only). Third, when people try to tell her to "center" herself, they naturally want to tell her to use visual cues - e.g., "look straight ahead at the clock on the wall." But Bridget's double vision makes this very tricky: she sees two clocks, one a little to the left and the other a little to the right of where the real clock is. On top of all of this, the room always feels like it's spinning while she's doing this.
Going back about 3-4 days ago, these problems were huge barriers on Bridget's mobility. She was not even really able sit up from a laying position by herself. But even before she started rehab, she was getting better at this, and now she can do this mostly by herself. She is getting much better at transferring from the bed to the wheelchair. In the last two days she has gained skill at "scooting" in the bed or the chair - a verb I normally encounter in my developmental studies of baby locomotion. So, even though the gains are small, any gain is good! Her PT today told her today that in rehab, they measure improvement in inches, not miles.
Bridget has 3 hours or therapy per day: 1.5 hours of physical therapy, and 1.5 hours of occupational therapy, each split into two 45 minute sessions (so 4 sessions per day). Both PT and OT have been working a lot on Bridget's balance/vestibular issues. They have her shift her wait while sitting, for example. PT also focuses on getting Bridget's strength back, and has been giving her exposure to standing for short periods - this is extremely challenging for Bridget right now. OT has been focusing on Bridget's hand coordination as well, to work on Bridget's ataxia. Bridget says I should take video of her doing these things, so people can see what she's like. I will try tomorrow. One thing that Bridget has going for her is that she's a *really* good patient (motivated, persistent), and I think that helps the therapists push her to (reasonable) limits.
All of this therapy makes Bridget SO tired. And her appetite is absolutely through the roof! For those of you who are familiar with Bridget's eating habits, you would be shocked to see how ravenous she is at mealtime. She eats much more than she normally used to and much faster than she normally used to. But this is a good thing! Her brain is saying "I need more energy to repair myself!"
Tonight our friends Karen and Alicia came by for a fun visit. Karen made more of the cookies that Karen made when she was in the NCCU and couldn't eat anything, and she was forced to smell them when I would eat them. Now, she can eat them! And Alicia brought some banana bread and delicious raspberries. Good times were had! We even played some Scattergories, and discovered that Bridget can still kick ass at that game. So certainly no cognitive deficits! :)
Bridget's current impairments are so severe that she finds great difficulty in doing simple things that our brains do unconsciously for us. For instance, it doesn't seem like we have to "do" anything to sit upright in a chair. But for Bridget, multiple problems get in the way of performing this task. For one, Bridget has no idea where the center of her body is in space, so she doesn't know if she's sitting up straight or not, or even if she's looking straight forward or not. Second, she can't really feel the right side of her body. So when she does try to center herself, she leans considerably to her left, because that's the side of her body she can feel, and thus tries to center according to that half (but the body, of course, cannot be balanced on one side only). Third, when people try to tell her to "center" herself, they naturally want to tell her to use visual cues - e.g., "look straight ahead at the clock on the wall." But Bridget's double vision makes this very tricky: she sees two clocks, one a little to the left and the other a little to the right of where the real clock is. On top of all of this, the room always feels like it's spinning while she's doing this.
Going back about 3-4 days ago, these problems were huge barriers on Bridget's mobility. She was not even really able sit up from a laying position by herself. But even before she started rehab, she was getting better at this, and now she can do this mostly by herself. She is getting much better at transferring from the bed to the wheelchair. In the last two days she has gained skill at "scooting" in the bed or the chair - a verb I normally encounter in my developmental studies of baby locomotion. So, even though the gains are small, any gain is good! Her PT today told her today that in rehab, they measure improvement in inches, not miles.
Bridget has 3 hours or therapy per day: 1.5 hours of physical therapy, and 1.5 hours of occupational therapy, each split into two 45 minute sessions (so 4 sessions per day). Both PT and OT have been working a lot on Bridget's balance/vestibular issues. They have her shift her wait while sitting, for example. PT also focuses on getting Bridget's strength back, and has been giving her exposure to standing for short periods - this is extremely challenging for Bridget right now. OT has been focusing on Bridget's hand coordination as well, to work on Bridget's ataxia. Bridget says I should take video of her doing these things, so people can see what she's like. I will try tomorrow. One thing that Bridget has going for her is that she's a *really* good patient (motivated, persistent), and I think that helps the therapists push her to (reasonable) limits.
All of this therapy makes Bridget SO tired. And her appetite is absolutely through the roof! For those of you who are familiar with Bridget's eating habits, you would be shocked to see how ravenous she is at mealtime. She eats much more than she normally used to and much faster than she normally used to. But this is a good thing! Her brain is saying "I need more energy to repair myself!"
Tonight our friends Karen and Alicia came by for a fun visit. Karen made more of the cookies that Karen made when she was in the NCCU and couldn't eat anything, and she was forced to smell them when I would eat them. Now, she can eat them! And Alicia brought some banana bread and delicious raspberries. Good times were had! We even played some Scattergories, and discovered that Bridget can still kick ass at that game. So certainly no cognitive deficits! :)
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Whew!
Bridget had her first real day of rehab today, and is totally beat from it. It was a very busy day, so I didn't really have time for a post. I'll post more tomorrow about today and tomorrow!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Tired
Bridget is now up in the rehab floor, and is pretty exhausted from an afternoon intro to rehab. That, and she also had her sutures removed, which was kind of intense. She is lying in bed in regular clothes instead of a hospital gown, as her occupational therapist helped her get dressed. She feels a lot more human with clothes on
Bridget was visited by speech therapy again, and was upgraded to regular foods and liquids. She had a very nice sweet and sour tofu stir fry for dinner, and regular milk to drink - a very satisfying meal after a long day. She also had her visit from OT, and physical therapy. She was up in a wheelchair for a bit, while I gave her a tour of the wing.
Rehab is going to be very structured and scheduled, and very tiring. She'll have 1.5 hrs each with both OT and PT every day. Although she'll be pretty beat almost every day, it is the only way she will learn how to adapt to her current mobility limitations. So wish her lots of luck in her upcoming grueling sessions!
However, a super great thing about the rehab floor is that it is very, very quiet, as they need to ensure that all of their tired patients get as much sleep as possible. So Bridget may finally get a regular night's sleep after 10 days of beeping noises and constant interruptions!
And tonight Bridget is getting more visitors. Bridget's friend Andrea and her boyfriend Kean came up yesterday to visiting Bridget and Seattle, and are staying until Sunday. So they visited last night and are also coming tonight to visit again. Yay for visitors! If anyone local - or otherwise - wants to come and see Bridget, please do! You can coordinate with me.
Bridget was visited by speech therapy again, and was upgraded to regular foods and liquids. She had a very nice sweet and sour tofu stir fry for dinner, and regular milk to drink - a very satisfying meal after a long day. She also had her visit from OT, and physical therapy. She was up in a wheelchair for a bit, while I gave her a tour of the wing.
Rehab is going to be very structured and scheduled, and very tiring. She'll have 1.5 hrs each with both OT and PT every day. Although she'll be pretty beat almost every day, it is the only way she will learn how to adapt to her current mobility limitations. So wish her lots of luck in her upcoming grueling sessions!
However, a super great thing about the rehab floor is that it is very, very quiet, as they need to ensure that all of their tired patients get as much sleep as possible. So Bridget may finally get a regular night's sleep after 10 days of beeping noises and constant interruptions!
And tonight Bridget is getting more visitors. Bridget's friend Andrea and her boyfriend Kean came up yesterday to visiting Bridget and Seattle, and are staying until Sunday. So they visited last night and are also coming tonight to visit again. Yay for visitors! If anyone local - or otherwise - wants to come and see Bridget, please do! You can coordinate with me.
Breakfast of Champions!
All of Bridget's IV lines are OUT, and real food is going IN! Today she's enjoying her first french toast, scrambled eggs, and milk (still thickened, but later today she will probably be able to have all the regular milk she wants).
She'll need lots of energy today for her transition up to rehab. More on that later!
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