Day 105 - Wednesday March 28, 2012

Today Bridgett had a rough time wanting to get ready for our drive to Salt Lake to see Kasey.  Maybe it was a protest at going on that drive, who knows.  At any rate, she didn't want to eat breakfast, but finally had 1/2 of a Boost.  Then she didn't want to shower, but finally let me attempt to fix her hair.  It is getting pretty long, but since it is so thick it is still standing straight up on top.  The sides were all crazy from sleep.  She got dressed reluctantly and we headed off.   Tyler came with us to Salt Lake.  Stephany went to Jenn's house to spend some time there.  The ride to Salt Lake was fairly uneventful but I had given her zofran before we went.  By the time we got off the freeway at Foothill Drive Bridgett was feeling sick but didn't think that she would vomit.  We got to the low vision clinic a little early so she had time to decompress a little.  Our appointment with Kasey went well.  He did some testing of her near vision and she did indeed do better then before without reading glasses.  However, with the reading glasses she did even better.  Kasey talked to Bridgett about wearing her glasses and she said that she really hates glasses.  They decided together that she would wear the reading glasses during therapy or whenever she needed to read.  Then she can take breaks as needed until her eyes get used to them.  Bridgett agreed to this. They did scanning exercises and with a guide under the line she was on, she could do really well.  She did reading of a card that is set up so that you can't auto fill in with the brain.  There aren't any sentences, just words next to each other.  She did well on that and only occasionally missed when they had a single letter on the line.  Next she traced circles, from left to right.  He is trying to reinforce left to right scanning, like reading, remembering to go all the way to the left.  Next he gave her a sheet of boxes in lines and asked her to put a single letter of the alphabet in each square.  She went quickly and did it completely correctly!  Wow he said you set a new speed record on that one!  After all of these exercises Kasey gave us some homework and then we worked on the Dynavision.  Bridgett did one time through and then did not want to do a second.  By this time she was tired out from all the concentrating.  So, Kasey asked her to stand behind him and help him, which she did (clever!).  She got almost as much benefit.  Afterwards, they did scanning on the walls back to the entrance and he had her read signs that were large enough.  It was a good appointment and I feel that she is really improving.  After the appointment she was hungry and ate a hamburger, fries, and a Boost.  She drank 1/2 of a ginger ale as well, and she asked for a drink saying she was thirsty!  We headed home while she rested.  When we got home she took a long nap and then wanted to go for a drive.  Afterwards, she ate dinner and said she was ready for bed even though it was only 6:30.  I talked her into staying up until about 7:15 even though I was holding out for 8:00.  Actually she got up to the bathroom a couple of times and didn't actually fall asleep until 8:00.  I got a digital monitor to put in her room so that she can sleep without us worrying that she'll get up and fall.  It is charging and I'm excited to try it out tomorrow!