Day 98 - Wednesday March 21, 2012

We got up and went to the new rehab and we love it--and it's only three blocks away to the parking lot, one block to the hospital complex.  Of course, Mark and I had looked at it before we even left the ICU and we liked the set-up set.  The rehab room is large and not all crowded like it is at Sugarhouse.  In addition, they are part of the hospital, so there are endless hallways to walk around in--well not as many as at the U of U hospital but there is no where to walk at Sugarhouse except the treadmill or outside.  First we met with the speech therapist.  She had a graduate student helping.  Bridgett was agitated for some reason, probably because everything was new and she hasn't been in therapy for a while.  Anyway, we visited all together and then the main therapist took me to another nearby room to ask for specifics about Bridgett.  She was very concerned and attentive and also very good with Bridgett.  There is a standard evaluation test that the student did verbally with Bridgett.  I only got in for a few of the questions and they were things that obviously Bridgett didn't remember--who was the first president of the United States, which president freed the slaves, etc.  Of course she didn't get these right and I would have been dumbfounded if she had--although of note, history was her favorite subject in high school and she knows tons of history facts--somewhere in that brain!  Afterwards we went to physical therapy and Shane was great!  He has lots of experience with TBI and he just worked so well with her!  We discussed the whole situation with the other rehab and he said that it was premature to do what they did.  He said as time goes by a patient gets less sensitive to stimulus and we do see that.  The past few days she has gone out without sunglasses and not wanted to wear them.  The bright light is no longer bothering her!  We talked about her passing out and hitting her head.  He discussed secondary concussion with me.  I then asked him point blank if he thought she had a secondary concussion and he said based on her three weeks following the incident he believes so.  He said she had all of the symptoms--regression in memory and processing, tiredness etc.  He told us to be sure that she does not take any blow to the head, even with a soccer ball for the next three months. In effect what happens is the brain is jumbled up and connections are broken from the TBI.  Then the brain starts healing and making new connections.  The blow that she got severed some on the new connections, even though it was a small blow, because everything is very fragile at this point.  Now she is making connections again.  He said of course if it happened to you or me--no big deal.  Even in a while if it happened to her--no bid deal.  Just right now it's critical.  So we will keep on watching her carfully and being with her everywhere at this point.  He did his evaluation and then asked her what things she wanted to work on being able to do again.  She held up her fingers--1. bike 2. run and 3. swim.  Exactly what she wanted to do before the accident!  He said you did very well on the evaluation and if you come twice a week for two months you will be doing all of those things again!  Cool!  He also said I'm sure you want to drive again and she said yes.  I mentioned that she just talked about it the day before.  He said we will help you get recertified to do that again.  The issue with your vision might slow you down a bit but we'll see.  Oh, while we were walking in the hallway, we ran into trauma Adam.  He was surprised to see us and immediately recognized me and then Bridgett.  He came and talked to us and touched her hair and said I can see how long it has been since you were here.  Of course, her hair grows fast but I didn't mention that.  Anyway, he said you are doing great and seemed impressed.  It's hard to tell what's on his mind ever but I was glad that we saw him.  I tried to explain to Bridgett who he was while we were talking and she said oh you knew me when my hair was long (good thought process!).  He didn't understand at first but then he said well by the time I got involved your hair was already shaved off.  He was there in the emergency room and then up in the ICU.  Bridgett came home happy and tired and drank a Boost and took a long nap.  Afterwards she was awake for the whole day.  She asked if we could get dressed and go shopping.  I said at the mall and she said sure.  So, she got out of sweats and into jeans (at Tyler and Arrianne's suggestion) and we headed to the Provo mall.  We went to Penneys although we didn't stay too long.  Bridgett and I walked and Arrianne tried on shorts.  We bought some socks and shorts and then went to Pearle Vision to get her glasses. Later on she wanted to go out and play something--a game she said.  She probably wanted to play rugby, basketball or whatever.  We didn't even discuss that we just diverted her to doing some flashcards with me and then we played a short card game.  Afterwards she was ready for bed and so we headed to bed around 9:00 ish.  Oh yeah, she had three Boost drinks plus this morning at breakfast she wanted some cereal and ate some.  Then at dinner she wanted noodles with alfredo sauce and even asked for seconds.  Her appetite is returning!  Yeah!