Hi Everyone,
It was another busy day! Corey has been doing so well with her ability to swallow pureed food that Diane suggested we try “soft” foods. So I wiped up scrambled eggs with cheese and homemade French toast w/syrup. Guess which one Corey chose? Bon appetite…she ate a ¼ piece of French toast and loved it! This afternoon for lunch she had the scrambled eggs and tonight she tried cubed peaches.
Now that she’s working on pureed and soft foods our options are growing. I will be making many of her foods from scratch as we’ve been noticing her feet swelling from the sodium count in some of the foods. It’s been 17 months since she’s had any canned or processed foods. I’d rather make homemade and add the fat/salt to taste than risk the chance of her swelling and possibly forming any type of blood clot. It’s actually the perfect solution for her to keep on cooking; besides, she has to get ready for the Johnson & Wales entrance exams.
Corey had a good day with Gillian. She started in her wheelchair with some stretching exercises. Gillian asked her to march with her right leg. This means as she is in her chair, she lifts her right knee up then down. Gillian asked Corey if she wanted to do 5 or 10 repetitions. Corey said she wanted to do 2. She then proceeded to lift her leg twice, counted 1 for the first rep, paused then lifted her leg twice again, counting 2 for the second rep. Leave it to Corey to double the count!
The most remarkable was the left leg. Corey raised and lowered her left knee for a total count of 20! Then she decided to get fancy by lifting her knee and kicking her leg out to a full extension. Gillian loved it.
Next the ladies walked with Corey’s hand guiding her along the counter in the kitchen. She stood in front of the sink to dance (rocking her hips back and forth), took two side steps right and two side steps left (with Gillian manipulating her left leg) and then took a stroll with her walker. As she rounded the corner at the island, Corey used her right hand to reach over and take her left hand off the platform handle. She then pushed the stroller away and said, “I want to do it alone”. Unfortunately, she’s not quite there yet, so Gillian held her hips, manipulated her legs and I held her arms as she took 3 more steps towards me. I love that she thinks she’s ready to run…Lord help me when she is ready!
Corey, as Gillian says, ‘everyday is a surprise with Corey’. I’m so proud of you for working hard and taking risks everyday.
~ The irony is that the person not taking risks feels the same amount of fear as the person who regularly takes risks ~ Peter McWilliams
Taking risks everyday is absolutely necessary if you’re going to be successful. Unless you are willing to take risks and fail miserably, then pick yourself back up to try again, achieving your goal won’t ever happen. Thank you Corey; for pushing through the fear to see what you can do rather than not taking the risk because you’re afraid to even try.
I love you, happy dreams. xoxo