Day 27 - Tuesday January 10, 2012

Another great day!  I'm so glad that Bridgett is in rehab!  The people here are amazing!  Another great thing is that they work as a great team.  She has two doctors and a patient care manager.  Then she has her different therapists.  They meet weekly to discuss progress. Also, each see a different part of her progress and addresses that.  For example, the speech therapist ask the doctor to order the swallow test--she took that today and she passed for liquids!  Yes!  The occupational therapist asked the doctor about an eye patch to try to address the double vision--which he ordered and she got today.   It came while she was in bed and she wore it for a while, but got annoyed and took it off several times.  I finally just left it off and thought we'd try it during therapy tomorrow.  Each day she had two sessions of physical therapy, two sessions of occupational therapy and one session of speech therapy.   Today in physical therapy she walked down to the gym (supported by two people), part way she pushed the elevator button (with help) and then walked quite a bit down hallways, and then returned to her room via the elevator.  She also rode the exercise bike for about 20 minutes.  I will have to explain that not only is she supported walking, she still is not awake enough to hold her head upright all the time and so she walks kind of like a drunk person.  Her pupils are often dilated still--they say like she is on drugs.  All of this relates to the state of coma she is presently in.  Occupational therapy--she helped dress herself again, and did other therapy with balls and cones.  Speech therapy--the swallow test which she passed for liquids.  They gave her a cracker but she couldn't figure out how to chew it up.  She had a shower today--in a shower chair and she washed the trunk of her body.  So, all things are getting better and moving along.  Everyday at least one new thing!  Oh, when they came for her second PT, I put her shoes by her and went to walk around the bed to put them on--she picked them up and put them on herself!  Awesome!