Hi Everyone,
We hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. We not only had family visiting, we had nursing…that showed up! I’m happy to say that I caught up on some sleep, my sister Diane and I made it out for a matinee and we ran to Philly for breakfast with JohnPaul and Caitlin.
Corey enjoyed Diane’s visit but has not been her self for the last four days. She has been very agitated especially with therapy, she’s been sleeping more than usual, we are watching a low grade fever and we can no longer eat or heat any food because the aroma is upsetting her. Nor can we speak about food; she gets very upset that she can’t eat yet. I’m not sure how this will affect her cooking therapy. She is doing well with swallowing ice cream but is having difficulty with most everything else we try to feed her. We hope to have another swallow study in a few weeks. Maybe an all ice cream diet won’t be so bad?
On a positive note; Corey had the best PT session to date this afternoon. Jen and Corey started out on the matte. Corey’s lies down on the matte with her head raised 30 degrees, knees bent; sneakers flat on the matte. Jen asked Corey to raise her Knee to her nose. For the first time, she raised her left knee to lift her foot off the matte! She lifted her foot 6-8”. Next was a stroll down the center hall towards the kitchen. Jen and Gillian use an ace bandage tied around the ball of Corey’s foot anchored at her calf just below the knee. By tying the bandage in this manner, it raises her foot up so her foot drop will not interfere with her forward motion. Sometimes the ladies use a knee immobilizer to help Corey keep her left knee straight, forcing her to shift her weight and lift her leg at the hip to try to carry her left foot through the motion of stepping forward.
Standing in the foyer, there is 13’ from the bottom of the steps to the entrance of the kitchen. Corey not only walked this distance today, she executed the motion Jen and Gillian have been trying to help her achieve for weeks now…placing her weight on her right leg she lifted her left heel and bent her knee from her hip. She couldn’t carry the motion through (lifting the left toe off the floor is very difficult) but the heel lift is the first movement necessary to achieve that goal.
On a not-so-positive note; overall, Friday through today has been very difficult for Corey and me emotionally. Corey’s frustration and agitation has increased. Watching her struggle to express her self is heart wrenching for me. In addition to this daily emotional turmoil, there was another accident on Corey’s Corner last night at 4:30pm. I was infuriated and called our local state representative and local papers. I want to know why “they” think a blinking warning light and rumble strips will prevent further accidents instead of installing a traffic light or a four way stop. Especially when there is approximately one accident a month at that intersection! Insurance hasn’t been the only battle we’ve been fighting. I have actually been working on the answer to this question since December 2010; repeatedly calling the local authorities to work towards changing the safety of this intersection. I don’t know what “the reason” is for any of this, but I can assure you that if Corey’s story can prevent another accident or help another family cope with surviving their accident, than we will do what ever we can to make that happen.