Corey,
It is amazing to see what you do in a day. How each motion builds on each other and strengthens your body and your spirit. You continue to surprise me with your determination and focus. I love watching your concentration.
In the last week we’ve seen you throwing a ball, removing crayons from a box, picking them up when dropped in your lap and putting them back in the box. You have been brushing the hair away from your eyes, holding the suction tube to use it independently and beginning to hold your toothbrush to attempt to brush your teeth. You have begun to try to lift your hips off the bed to arch your back. You’re attempting to roll to your side and you have been humming more consistently as a response to an answer. You have been holding the cream jar with your left hand and using your right hand accurately twisting left/right motions to remove and replace the cap.
What is important to note is we are not doing anything special to initiate your progress kiddo. It’s ALL YOU! We search for any and all movements that would have been “typical” for you. When I see what you are achieving daily I think of what the doctors told us ~ you probably were not going to live. They also told us that you were among the 3% of survivors that opened their eyes. When asked for a prognosis, they couldn’t guarantee much more than open eyes from you. Less than 1% of survivors that fall within the 3% would ever have any sort of functional movement. These are daunting odds Corey!
Even at the rehab hospital, your progress was intermittent and inconsistent. Most clinicians caution a survivor diagnosed at a low level will only achieve a certain level. Well you know what I think of that approach; we don’t take NO from someone who can’t say YES! You survived the first week and continue to prove them wrong!
Honey don’t lower your expectations to get them to match your reality. Instead, lift up your reality so that it meets the very best of your expectations. There is no reason to think or believe you will not achieve your goals. Your expectations send a strong message not only to yourself, but also to those around you. We will only allow that message to be a positive, confident and be an enthusiastic one. Why wouldn’t we expect you to walk, talk and stand at a stove to cook again?
When things don’t turn out as expected, that’s no reason to change your expectations. Rather than change your expectations, the thing to do is to change your approach. We will expect the best and we’ll stick with it until we get there. Happy dreams, xoxo