On the eve of graduation

On rehab they call discharge day Graduation Day. And my sweet sweet Bridget's is tomorrow!

Right now she is enjoying her last chocolate chip walnut cookies and Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream (a favourite dessert). She had a good last day of her therapies. One of her OTs showed her some hand exercises she can do with her "thera-putty", and one of her PTs showed her some leg and balance exercises to do at home. As you all know, Bridget is no slacker, and she'll be doing these daily until she gets better! She ended her last PT session with a 500 foot walk outside in the Seattle sun, across some zig-zaggy uneven surfaces. We said goodbye to all of her therapists, and got pictures of Bridget with each of them too.


Here is Bridget with one of her awesome OTs Audrey:

 Here is Bridget with another awesome OT, Rishana:

And here is Bridget with her super PT, Alison!

 
The green sticker on Bridget's shirt is her Graduation sticker, which patients wear so that everybody knows they are leaving (and to remind nurses and therapists to do all of the discharge paperwork). Bridget leaves tomorrow, sometime between 10-11 in the morning. I plan to do another post then!

Bridget's LAST night in the hospital! Huzzah!!!

Updates, at last!

Dear readers,

My sincerest apologies for not updating anybody for 10 whole days! What can I say - I am busy man. Now that Bridget is doing so, so, so much better, I don't really have the time to do posts during the day. We stay busy doing exercises during her therapy sessions, working on puzzles, playing games, or watching movies. So much different than when she was sleeping all of the time for the first few weeks! I am also very busy preparing for us to move in just 16 days! Yikes. Right now Sheila is up visiting, and so while she's helping Bridget at the hospital I have time to do an update (among other things).



I have been getting emails from many of you worrying a bit about Bridget, since I hadn't posted in so long. Rest assured, it is only for the aforementioned reasons. Bridget really is doing great these days! Her walking gets better and better and better. The other day she walked a total of 500 feet across her two PT sessions - a new record! She also has done stairs over the last two days. The stairs she is using have rails on both sides, which is rare for stairs in the real world. But, as long as she has one rail and someone to help on the other side, it looks like she'll be fine. Finally, just yesterday she was cleared to have a walker in her room, that she can use with supervision of a nurse or family member. This is huge!

All of this makes Bridget and I feel much better about her increased independence in the near future, as we prepare for her discharge from the hospital. Her discharge date is set for August 1st right now. Although someone will have to be home with her at all times, she'll be able to do a lot of things by herself. We'll have a have a week together at home in Seattle, with friends from afar visiting (our very brief summer vacation!). Our movers are packing up our stuff on the 6th, and then she'll leave for Eugene for a week or so. The cats and I will leave on the 7th, and arrive in Regina on the 10th. I'll get the house set up (e.g., purchase a bed and other necessities, as the moving company won't deliver our stuff for a little while). I'll then fly out to Eugene to pick Bridget up, and we'll fly out to Regina to start our new life together.

Regarding Bridget's symptoms, her sense of midline is hugely improved. This was a subtle development that sort of slipped under the radar, because it doesn't really "feel" any different to Bridget (she would always be shocked to learn that she was leaning left, as it felt centered to her). But it's something the therapists and I have noticed, as her standing and sitting is so much straighter these days. I'm sure all of the walking has helped her brain to figure some of this out. 

Bridget's double vision is still an annoyance. On Friday she had an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist, to get an assessment of what her specific double vision problems were. This involved a short car ride to a different hospital, which went very well (i.e., didn't increase her vertigo too badly). This guy was able to characterize just how bad her double vision was (pretty bad!), and noted that it is primarily due to trouble coordinating the left eye. He also also said that it is highly likely to go away. He said that she doesn't need to worry about exposing herself to double vision time (i.e., time without patching up one eye), and also doesn't need to switch which eye she is patching throughout the day, as there's no danger of one of her eyes "taking over". He said just patch up whichever eye you prefer, and wait it out. That was *really* nice to hear, as Bridget's rehab doctors and therapists have been giving her the opposite advice. It's nice to get the official word from someone who knows their stuff! :) And, in the very rare case that her double vision isn't gone within 6 months - 1 year, there are glasses that they can design which can correct the problem for the most part. So that was a very relieving and reassuring appointment :)

Bridget's hand coordination is also greatly improved these days. She eats most of her meals with her right hand now, and makes it look easy. She also practices writing with her right hand everyday, and it is getting more and more legible - which is amazing when you think about it, since she can't really feel that hand very well!

Over the last few days we have begun purchasing equipment for Bridget as well. I found a used wheelchair on Craigslist for her, which is in good shape and runs smooth (a "Tracer SX5", sounds speedy, eh?) We've also purchased a shower bench and other stuff for the bathroom.
Getting ready for home!

OK, there you have it. It should come as no surprise that I probably won't update for a few days again, at minimum. But it is so nice to know that so many people are following Bridget's progress, and get so much out of this blog. The world is indeed full of good, caring, internet-savvy people, like yourself :)

250

Dear readers! Times have been busy lately. Bridget's sister, Sihu, and her fiance Joshua arrived two days ago from Norway. And Bridget is so active these days it's hard to find free time to post! Which is a good thing.

Anyway, just a short post for tonight. The exciting news: Today Bridget walked a total of about 250 feet! The day before she about 140, so that's a significant improvement! But that wiped her out pretty good, and so she had an early bed time tonight.

There haven't been any huge improvements in Bridget's sensation, but little sensations here and there have come back. She finds them hard to describe, as their not exactly like normal sensation, but she can feel "something".

The double vision is still a problem, and her vertigo has increased somewhat of late. Probably all of her increased activity with walking and spending more time sitting is shifting things around in her brain, which makes her a bit more dizzy. But hopefully this a good thing in the long run!

OK, more in a few days.

To the park!

Yesterday was another exciting day for Bridget, as had her first trip out of the hospital in nearly a month! Bridget, Jon, and I, and Bridget's recreational therapist all went out to Volunteer Park in Capital Hill. In all our time in Seattle, we had never actually been there! It was a very pretty park, and it was a lovely sunny day. The car ride to and from the park was pretty rough, though, as it increased Bridget's vertigo a lot. Unfortunately it was also the hottest day of the year so far in Seattle, so it ended up being pretty exhausting for her. But still worth it! Here are some photos of us in the conservatory at the park:

 Bridget continues to slowly gain sensation on her right side. Just yesterday she started feeling parts of her right torso. And the sensation in her fingers is creeping back a little more too. Her motor coordination has improved a lot lately as well. Today she put together a small wooden puzzle - something she would never have been able to do a week ago. And she's now able to check her email and surf the web on her iPod too. So that is awesome! 

Bridget gets up and walks with help at least once a day during PT, ever since her walking breakthrough. It's still pretty tough for her, but she's starting to get into a groove with it. Yesterday and today she also was balancing on her knees on the mat, which looks very impressive as well.

Bridget and I just got finished playing a rousing game of Yahtzee. And she played the whole game with her double vision in full force! Her therapists and doctor are all recommending she spend as much time as possible exposing herself to her double vision, instead of covering up one eye, so that her brain gets exposure to the problem and "practice" trying to correct it. The trouble is it makes Bridget very uncomfortable, and can increase her vertigo and nausea as well. So whenever she's doing therapies she usually blocks on eye. But she's trying to expose herself to double vision during her break times. And so playing a game of Yahtzee with double vision is quite an accomplishment! But I won :)

The Path to Walking

Today was a momentous day.

During morning PT, Bridget's therapist encouraged her to try side-stepping around the mat without her harness attached. She did OK, and was surprised that it really wasn't any harder than with the harness attached. Her therapist then encouraged her to try walking over to a chair across the room, with her and one side Bridget and me on the other side for support.

And so Bridget was suddenly walking across the room, supporting all of her own weight! When she got to the chair it was a really emotional moment for her. She was really happy and also pretty surprised, and started crying tears of joy. It was a huge leap forward in her walking ability, and she said it felt so much like walking on her own, and she has been so worried deep down that she might never walk again. But this is hard evidence that she is closer to walking again that she thought. It all happened so fast, and I think that neither of us was expecting that to happen today (though I suspect her therapist knew she was ready for it).

After that she did some more walking down the hallways with our help. Such a super fantastic thing to see after all these weeks! She was pretty beat after this, and slept all afternoon in between her afternoon sessions.

This is a huge improvement in so many ways! It made us both very happy all day :)

Cookies!

Hi all,

My apologies for not posting yesterday. Bridget had such a busy day there was really no time for it!

Since it was the 4th of July, we planned for a fun evening. In the afternoon my Dad and I slipped out for a bit while Bridget was resting between sessions and 1) got Bridget a cinnamon twist from one of her favorite bakeries, and 2) rented a movie to bring back to the hospital. We rented 007: License to Kill (1989). Unfortunately, however, that has to be one of the worst Bond movies ever. But it was fun to bring the big TV into the room and have a movie night. We'll have to pick something better for next time.

At around 10:00 the nursing staff also allowed people to head down to the gym to watch the fireworks show. Since we're up on the 6th floor of a hospital on a hill we had a pretty nice view of the Seattle show over Lake Union, and we could also look out and see simultaneous fireworks shows from other cities farther south. That was really nice, as it just wouldn't have been the 4th without fireworks. But it did mean that Bridget stayed up WAY past her bedtime. So an early bedtime is in order tonight.

Bridget's balance and leg movements continue to improve. She is now getting quite good at standing up from her bed or wheelchair. And her assisted walking is looking awesome as well. I think within the next week they might try her in a walker, who knows!

Bridget's coordination/ataxia just gets better and better with each day - especially in her numb right hand. For example, yesterday started a new knitting project! She cast on a garter stitch scarf (size 10 needles; bulky weight). She can also tie her shoes with no trouble (did it twice today). And her handwriting is becoming legible again. Admittedly, it looks a little preschool, but that's a huge improvement considering it was incomprehensible less than two weeks ago.

Finally Bridget also got to make cookies today in her OT morning session! That was super fun and super impressive. They were Betty Crocker sugar cookies (no eggs needed somehow). The hardest part was getting the individual butter packets open - especially after she had buttered-up her hands after opening the first one! But she did it, and they were delicious.

Standing tall

Above is a video of Bridget walking in her high-tech Peter Pan gear! Pretty cool, eh? It supports a good deal of her weight so that she can walk for longer periods. But don't worry, she's also getting plenty of practice with walking on the parallel bars too, so that she doesn't develop any poor walking habits on this thing.

And boy, you should see she that girl stand these days! Nice and straight, and today she hardly needed assistance with the standing from sitting part. Bridget and I are always stupefied by how hard it is for her to stand. It must take a heck of a lot of strength and muscular coordination just to stand straight and still for a few minutes. But I guess babies already knew that :)

Bridget's steroid-induced hunger also appears to be disappearing with the absence of her steroid meds. So for the first time in 3 weeks Bridget felt full after dinner, and didn't eat everything we put in front of her! Slowly getting back to normal in more ways than one!