Hi Everyone,
I didn’t get to see Corey awake today. By the time I arrived she was fast asleep. Looking at her therapy schedule I understand why! She had PT for 2-½ hrs, OT for 1 ½ hrs and Speech for 1 hour. This kid is workin’ hard!
I have noticed a few new things as I watch our Sleeping Beauty.
She’s started to yawn regularly (and I don’t think it’s because she’s bored of us).
When we have to wake her from a sound sleep, she’s starting to stretch all her limbs just like we all do as we wake up.
Her night nurse, Nick, came in to chat with us tonight. He wanted to share what he experienced last night. He came in to get her blood pressure and she appeared to be asleep. He was walking out of her room when something on the TV caught his eye. He stopped to catch whatever it was and turned to Corey and said, “did you see that Corey”? He then took a double take because she was looking straight at him! He approached her to ask, “Are you looking at me?” She turned her head and closed her eyes as if to say, “I’m not looking at you. I’m asleep”. He thinks she was playing possum and had her eyes open to check out who came in to get her blood pressure. When she got caught, she played possum again.
I had to ask, “Nick, what do you think of Corey’s progress? Corey’s swallowing. She has spontaneous movements with her hands and feet. She vocalized a sigh last night. She’s yawning. Her eyes are open and the pupils are trying to go to midline. Occasionally you know she’s focusing and can feel the connection?”
He believes these are all sparks. As she emerges we hope she’ll become cognitive. That’s when the fuel is added and we might see a significant leap in progress. Then we hope that eventually, she’ll pop that clutch and get the whole thing rolling!
(Don’t you love a guy’s analogy!)?
What Nick doesn’t know is that it took Corey 3 try’s to pass her permit test and she hated learning to drive a stick. I really hope she didn’t hear Nick’s analogy…she’ll only drive an automatic!
Final answer…today we have sparks!