Day 56 - Wednesday February 8, 2012

Eight weeks since the accident.  We made it through the first 24 hours home from rehab.  Actually things went really well.   The only hang up was the sleeping pill situation.  Usually she gets trazodone and seroquel at night.  When we were getting her meds at release it cost $67.00 after the insurance for 9 meds. Just for the seroquel, it was $125 after insurance.  They asked if we really wanted the seroquel.  She used to get it at bedtime and then again later on during the night.  It is for agitation for her.   So, we decided to wait on the seroquel, but it was ordered if we needed it.  We gave her the trazodone about 8:45 (like normal) and at 12:30 she was still awake.  She fell asleep shortly thereafter.  So, back to the pharmacy for the seroquel!  This morning she had the BEST appointment at the lifestyles clinic for low vision occupational therapy.  This appointment was to get her prescription for glasses.  The occupational therapist sat in on the entire appointment, which lasted two hours.  The optometrist  has special training and is one of only two people in the state that does this.  It was amazing!  So, her prescription for distance is 20/60 right eye, 20/200 left eye.  Additionally she needs correction for reading, so she will get bifocals.  With the correction, she will be able to read stuff in 18 font or larger.  She needs prisms for the double vision, but the correction she needs is so much, they can't make a lens that thick.  So, we will get the glasses and they will add a film prism to the left eye.  She sees double starting at about 12 inches.  They gave her a patch that can be clipped on the glasses.  Then, they told us that she will need probably about five different changes of prescription before her eyes finally settle down, in about eight months.  She could need the new prescription in as soon as two weeks.  We said we would do it as often as needed for her to be able to rehab.  Having the occupational therapist there was awesome.  He made suggestions to the optometrist, based on his experience with TBI patients.  For instance, when testing the left eye, he said to give her 3-5 seconds to respond, and then she could correctly identify letters she couldn't previously.  So, some exciting news--with the corrective lenses on--she can read!!!  That's huge in regards to where we are for cognition!  Of course, we knew before that she could spell--but this is great!  Another great thing--her eyes are starting to respond to light!  And they are starting to work together!  So, the dr. said he sees great potential here!  We are just thrilled to say the least.  Bridgett was so cute and fun while being tested.  They really enjoyed her too.  When the dr. had her prescription right and put the "glasses" on Bridgett to try out--she gave this big sigh and said that's SO GOOD!  The dr. said she was very consistent while testing her and he felt very positive about how everything went.  The occupational therapist was supposed to do an evaluation today, but the testing took so long he didn't.  However, he said that much of his evaluation was done while helping with the vision testing.  Next appointment we will just be doing rehab.  Now, to be sure to get glasses right away.  I had hoped to go out to pick out frames today, but Bridgett was pretty tired, so we just rested.