Day 106 - Thursday March 29, 2012

Overall it was a good day today.  We did have a little discussion about the whole shower situation, but in the end, got the shower done.  It is hard to be an adult and have someone in the room with you for private personal things; but it's a necessary thing at this point. We had speech therapy and physical therapy today and both things went great!  First at speech therapy...Bridgett showed up feeling tired and worn out.  She feels that way a lot it seems.  Anyway, she participated great in therapy and did a really good job.  LeAnn wanted her to read something, but the font was too small.  She said I guess she needs 18 pt. font and I said yes.  So, she switched gears and did some questions for Bridgett to name--five desserts, ten animals, five sports, etc.  Bridgett did a good job at that.  She did sequence cards and did good at that.  She did the buzzer game and that was interesting.  When LeAnn said what they were going to do, she explained the game again.  Bridgett said, oh, I buzz whenever I hear "s" words...which is the letter that she was supposed to listen for on Tuesday!  Cool--she remembered!  LeAnn told her that this time we were doing "b" words.  The tape lasts for two minutes, the guy talks very slow, and there was an echo or some kind of interference.  Bridgett did "b" for a while and then missed a couple so LeAnn stopped the tape and asked what letter she was supposed to listen for.  Bridgett said "m".  LeAnn told her not "m" but "b".  Then Bridgett did good for a while and then missed a couple and so LeAnn stopped her again and asked what letter she was supposed to listen for and Bridgett said "h".  LeAnn redirected her again and she finished the tape.  LeAnn commented that it was funny that when she changed letters she didn't change back to "s".  Anyway, she recognizes the letters, but LeAnn said we won't do this again--the tape is too distracting for someone with a TBI.  LeAnn gave Bridgett some memory questions to answer about the family and she did good on that.  All in all a good session.  LeAnn reminded Bridgett to work on the computer game she gave us..some time this weekend.  We went to physical therapy and again Bridgett just lit up when she saw Shane.  He smiles big and has great energy and so Bridgett interacts well with him.  He's probably about my age or a little younger.  Anyway, he really worked Bridgett out!  I was remembering when Arrianne had to do rehab after her broken sesamoid bone incident, and she started out about where Bridgett is now as far as how long she rode the bike, etc.  It didn't take long at all to have her really working out hard--so hopefully things will go fast with Bridgett as well.  So, this is what Bridgett did today....first the recumbent bike, then the elliptical.  Next he had her play a wii game that works on balance. You stand on a platform and shift your weight so that the platform on the tv moves and the marble drops into a hole.  Each level has more marbles, or more holes, or a different shaped platform.  It was challenging to do--first because of her balance and second because with a brain injury you might forget by the next level what you are supposed to be doing.  Anyway, she played that twice and we will do it again I think.  Shane spent some time talking to Bridgett about her injury.  He asked her what happened and she said she was in a wreck and talked a little about it.  I could tell that she was talking about another wreck she had--about 2-1/2 years ago.  She totalled the car, but overall she was OK, although they life flighted her to Missoula to the hospital because she was down by Seeley Lake and there was no close hospital.  Anyway, Shane said that makes sense, because she shouldn't be able to remember things really.  He said that you can tell how badly a brain has been injured just by how long and how bad the amnesia is.  The worse the injury--the worse the amnesia.  We talked about Bridgett finding some fun things she wants to do and trying not to sleep so much so that it doesn't become a pattern,  I said, oh she thinks of things she wants to do....play rugby, play soccer, play football, play basketball, go running, play outside with the dog, go out with the horses, drive her car, etc.  Amazingly enough she hasn't asked to ride the bike yet; maybe deep down she has a fear of that.  Anyway, of course she can't do any of these things right now.  Many of the quiet indoors things are limited by her vision, so that doesn't help much.  She was supposed to be getting book on tape.  I need to call up to the Moran Eye Center and tell them that those didn't start coming yet.  We are going to go to the library and see if the large print books are large enough font for reading.  I know people can use magnifiers, but with the brain injury that's just one more thing to deal with.  Bridgett finished PT by doing the stair stepper--for the equivalent of seven flights of stairs up and down.  So, she did work out!   Shane said to talk to Dr. Speed about the fatigue and see if there is anything with her meds causing the fatigue, or maybe her body detoxing from the meds that she was already on (more likely since the only medication she is currently on is Aricept for memory).  We headed home and had some dinner and then Bridgett rested for a bit. Aunt Debbi stopped over and visited. Bridgett wanted to go to bed, but I was trying to keep her up until 8:00, so visiting with Deb helped out.