Day 126 - Wednesday April 18, 2012

It's been 18 weeks--just over four months since the accident.  Most of the time Bridgett remembers who we are (the family) and some basic facts about herself.....where she was born and her birthday, where we live now.  It's been great having her remember things she previously had memorized.  Today was great because although she has been doing some reading......she spent pretty much all of OT reading!  Kasey got out his large Kindle and away she went.  Bridgett loves Alice in Wonderland and when given a choice of several things to read she picked that (yes!  she knew she liked it I think).  She read 25 pages of the book--in large print.  We started out with the third to largest font but her eyes got tired so she removed her reading glasses and Kasey switched to the second to largest font which is on average about 35 words per page.  That was great!  Kasey was impressed.  He made some helps for her--placing orange tape on the left side so that she would look all the way to the left and placing a bright green "button" on the page button so that she could see where to turn the page and perfecting her guide strip.  Then part way through he had someone else from his office come in and she listened to Bridgett and began to quiz her.  When Bridgett couldn't remember what happened she had her go back a page and try to figure out.  It was helpful for me to hear how she did it so that I can do the same thing with Bridgett at home. She said part of the time just let her read and part of the time ask comprehension
questions. Anyway Kasey then told me that I could borrow the Kindle for the week to see if it works out.  He also lend me an adjustable easel type thing to put on the table in front of Bridgett as she reads.  It will hold the Kindle so that her hands are free to use the reading guide.  All in all a very neat system!  Afterwards Dr. Freestone checked Bridgett's eye to see if anything unusual was happening.  He said that everything looks fine.  He believes that the pain is from strain as the brain attempts to force the eye to move past the mid point.  Continually all day the eye is being forced to it's limits and it's causing fatigue for the eye.  He said that patching the eye will help.  Bridgett mostly hates having the eye patched but we will see what we can do.  Then we all stood in the hallway and talked for a few minutes--Dr. Freestone, Kasey, Bridgett and I.  I had her repeat D&C 82:10 for them.  I said it's good she's remembering things even if it's not consistent--she may forget later and then remember again.  He said anything she remembers is good and a sign of healing in the brain.  After we got home Bridgett sat down with Arrianne and Steph and did more reading.  Later on she was saying things that showed deductive reasoning.  Arrianne commented that the reading seemed to help things along.  In the evening Steph was sitting looking at something on the ipad.  She said to me--do you know that Jackie Chan is "in" Kung Fu Panda?  I said which animal and she said the monkey (I think!).  I turned to Bridgett and said do you know who Jackie Chan is and she said isn't he that guy that makes martial arts movies!  That was great!  Little by little--every day a little more.