Day 117 - Monday April 9, 2012 Bridgett's Birthday!!

Today is Bridgett's 22nd birthday! She had a good day.  Bridgett had therapy appointments today because with the appointment for getting her teeth done tomorrow and the possibility that she might feel poorly the next day and needing to get two appointments in this week, it was unavoidable.  She had physical therapy first and then speech therapy.  Shane was out of town this week, so Alan saw Bridgett instead.  He said he's not as fun as Shane but he would try to do the best he could.  He had Bridgett ride the recumbent bike first.  She was tired and didn't pedal very hard, but he kept encouraging her and she would speed up.  Next he took her outside to walk on the large rock border and had her walk along two of the borders.  He said this forces the brain to work on balance and further stimulates the brain.  Bridgett did pretty well, although on the way back she was a little more unstable and he held onto her for a bit of the time.  Next he took her in and had her on a balance board, first that rocked side to side.  He had her play catch with me while he spotted her.  Next she had to stand on the balance board while it could rock front to back.  She immediately started a rapid shaking forward and backward.  She said I don't even know what's happening.  He said your brain is trying to reset itself and establish balance.  After a bit it settled down and then we played catch again.  Next he had her balance on half ball type things.  She did pretty well and at first he said you make that look too easy.  After a bit she started to lose her balance, but corrected.  Next she walked on the treadmill, followed by rapid walking down the hallway.  On to speech therapy.  Bridgett's vision was good today and she did well at the visual tasks.  She did sorting of playing cards by suit and organization by number.  She did some writing, and recall.  We talked about her birthday.  Last Thursday LeAnn tried to get Bridgett to remember our family traditions from major holidays and she couldn't remember any of them. On Sunday at Jenn's house the people at the end of the table were talking about strange Thanksgiving meals and Bridgett heard them say they had pizza one Thanksgiving.  She turned to me and said I feel as if that was a strange thing to eat on Thanksgiving.  What do we normally eat I said.  Turkey she said.  And mashed potatoes.  So, she remembered something and that was exciting.  Several times lately she has remembered something kind of random, but that we have not prompted her on in any way and that's encouraging.  LeAnn said to me.... I'm sure that you realize that Bridgett is very vulnerable right now.  Anyone could tell her things and she's entirely open to any suggestion.  She said don't leave her alone anywhere, which obviously we don't.  Her memory seems weaker sometimes when we are at therapy, then when we are back with the family in familiar surroundings it is better.  After therapy we went home and got ready for dinner.  I made reservations at the Olive Garden which was one of her favorite places to eat before.  The Olive Garden was so nice!  I explained the situation about Bridgett's birthday and her injury and asked if we could send one person ahead to order for everyone.  They said we'll do better than that!  Get your order together (using the menu online) and email it and we will have the table set and salads and bread sticks down and ready.  They said they would start our meals the minute we came in, which they did.  After we got there, they also said they would buy dessert for everyone.  They were awesome!  I didn't know if Bridgett would want ravioli or ziti, as she likes both, so I ordered both and figured we'd take the other one home for tomorrow.  She wanted the ziti, which is what I really thought.  She was starving and ate 2/3 of it!  Afterwards everyone was stuffed but they said we could get dessert to go, which three of the family did, including Bridgett.  We went home and sang to her and she opened presents and ate the cake from Olive Garden, which looked fancier than our cake although she did blow out candles on our cake.  She put the candles in herself.  Then Jamie showed up and she really enjoyed him coming over.  He brought gourmet cupcakes with him and they looked awesome.  Bridgett went to bed happy and we felt that she had a very good day.  I was glad that she ate well and got to bed semi early since the dentist appointment is at 7 a.m. tomorrow.  No eating and drinking after 11:00, which will be no problem at all!  We will just get her up and take her over in her sweats. The dentists office is just around the block.  Oh, by the way, thanks to the Montana Easter Bunny for the beautiful flowers we received!!