Day 228 - Sunday July 29, 2012

Bridgett was SO excited to get a post from someone in Australia--she has always loved Australia and wants to go there sometime.  Dorothy has one of her sons and his family living there and regularly goes to visit and Bridgett loves to hear about Australia from her.  Also, one of the respiratory therapists at the Provo ICU was from Australia so we talked to him about Australia while Bridgett was in a coma.  Hopefully we will be able to plan a trip to take Bridgett there!! Bridgett's energy is so good these days.  She sleeps about 8 to 8-1/2 hours a night and doesn't nap during the day, although she does sometimes lay down to read during the afternoon.  She keeps commenting that she has SO MUCH ENERGY!  Yeah! 

Day 227 - Saturday July 28, 2012

This morning before we walked Bridgett saw a little flag on the table by the door.  She picked it up and waved it and I said where did we get that.  Bridgett said didn't I get that at the church on the 4th of July--correct!  I couldn't believe that she remembered that--from 3-1/2 weeks ago!  I can see that her memory is improving all of the time and that's so good! 

Day 226 - Friday July 27, 2012

Today we had a Brian Miller appointment and it went "wonderfully" if you ask Bridgett.  She enjoys working out so she has a lot of fun with Brian.  First she did the NuStep and then they worked on balance.  Bridgett walked toe to toe between the balance bars, first going forward and then backward (which was more challenging!).  Next she stood on balance bubbles or whatever (half of a ball) and played toss with a football with Brian.  Brian was standing on one foot to make it more fair.  One of the other therapists came by and made him stand on the same thing as Bridgett so it was fair--funny!  Bridgett also did weight exercises for her arms as well as the arm bicycle.  Afterwards Brian worked on her neck so that it wouldn't be stiff.  We always have a nice time with Brian and all of the staff is very friendly.  When we left Bridgett said that Brian was ridiculously fun AND nice!  Reunion was officially over today but Beth and Deb came and stayed overnight and played games with us this evening. 

Day 225 - Thursday July 26, 2012

Today at reunion Bridgett sang with us while we sang "One Tin Soldier" and remembered how we ham it up!  Mark, Arri and I sang along with her (no one else from our family was there at the time) and Deb joined us.  It was a lot of fun and we all had a good time playing cards afterwards.  Bridgett loves playing card games.  She said I'm just a card happy girl!  Brian Miller said that the card playing is really good for her brain.  We started playing card games because it was recommended by the occupational therapists and Bridgett has done great.  Actually she always has loved playing games with the family. It has been a fun week of being with relatives and we really enjoyed reunion!

Day 224 - Wednesday July 25, 2012

So Bridgett's word of the week (or two) is ridiculous.  Everything is ridiculously fun or ridiculously nice or whatever.  If something is really great it is ri-freakin-diculously fun.  It's fun to hear the cute things Bridgett comes up with and her new word that she uses.  Another word that she has been using for the past several weeks is hence.  I am trying to think of a sentence that she would say.......I might say it's really hot today and she would say hence my wearing shorts.  Anyway, both of these words find there way into many different sentences a day.  It was a busy day with Tyler getting off to Billings to report tomorrow morning. It will be strange having him gone for a month with no  phone contact.  Of course, that happened before when he was at boot camp--but it seems different now when he has so much interaction with Bridgett each day.  He will see changes in her for sure over the next month.  He will be back just in time for us to leave to Utah to take Arrianne back to school and to see Bridgett's specialists.

Day 223 - Tuesday July 24, 2012

We got up and Bridgett washed her own hair today--and no problems!  Yippee!  Afterwards we sang happy birthday to Scott - happy birthday!!  Everyone's schedule is crazy so we are trying to figure out when to get together.  Bridgett had an appointment with Brian Miller today and he worked on the muscles in her neck to keep them loose and actually she never complained once about any pain for the rest of the day.  She rode the NuStep when we got there.  It was kind of weird because she said her heart was really pounding and so I asked them to take her pulse and it was 71!  Later after more exercise it was 113 but that has been her resting heart rate lately.  I forgot to mention yesterday that I discussed this with Jen Hawes.  She said one of two things--perhaps as she increases her cardio vascular work out it will just get better or she should take some special herbs to decrease inflammation in the lungs.  I said she is taking anti-inflammatory herbs now but Jen said that the lungs are kind of different and will only respond to certain things.  Anyway, maybe this means that just increasing cardio will help--that would be great.  I will continue to keep an eye on things.  Brian had Bridgett do strengthening exercises with her arms--pulling down weight which he said is easier on the neck than pushing weight and then sideways pulling on weights.  Also they did balance exercises.  Bridgett loved every minute of it--she kept saying this is ridiculously fun!!   Cute!  That's the old Bridgett--loving to work out.  Anyway, the appointment went well and we will be able to see Brian again on Thursday because he had a cancellation (good for us!).  Today the Allred reunion started.  Mark got the motor home ready to take down to the Swan Lake campground.  We always take it even though we are staying at the house because then we have a place to go inside if it rains, a place to get away from mosquitoes when it gets dark and this year an extra place for people to stay--Aunt Debbi and Uncle Gary are staying in the motor home.  We didn't get down to the campground until later on when the game playing had already started--just perfect timing for Bridgett as she loves to play card games!  She recognized many of the relatives but it took a little processing to get the name to the right person--many of us have that problem!  There was lots of hugging going around and then lots of laughing and playing of games.  As soon as the mosquitoes came out we headed home.

Day 222 - Monday July 23, 2012

This morning we had an appointment at  Dr. Jen Hawes for all of us girls and she was so amazed at how good Bridgett is doing.  We saw Jen on May 29th and then not again until today.  She couldn't believe the difference!  She thought it had been like three months since she'd seen us and was impressed with the difference if it had been three months---BUT really it's only been less than two months!  Very exciting!  Jen couldn't get over the fact that Bridgett talks and acts so much like herself--making quote signs with her fingers while she's saying things, etc.  We were at her office for over an hour, so that was a pretty fair assessment of how things are going these days! We talked about getting her back to eating paleo and she is finally up for that.  Because of the repeated cysts she has had in the past, losing the ovary etc. Jen recommended that she eat that way and Bridgett felt great eating paleo.  Of course, several months ago I couldn't get Bridgett to eat any meat at all so paleo would have been out of the question.  But now I think we are about ready to try it.  It will help Bridgett feel better and increase in strength which is what she wants now.  We discuss seeing the endocrinologist in August and what they might find.  We talked supplements and she thinks what Bridgett is doing now is great.  All in all it was a good appointment.  She did advise me to get away somewhere with Mark for a day or two and have some alone down time.  A good idea--maybe we can work it out. 

Day 221 - Sunday July 22, 2012

I had sent an email months ago to Inez, the mother of Emily Berner --Arrianne's friend who was in a wreck about three days after Bridgett and had many injuries including a TBI.  She sent me a cell number to call her and I lost that number and just found it again yesterday when looking for some other papers. so anyway this afternoon I gave her a call and had a very nice and informative conversation with her.  She is all about figuring out the financial aspect of things.  She got Emily on SSI disability right away and they get $600 a month from that.  Also, she applied to have the state pay the medical insurance--while keeping her on her own policy it sounded like to me.  Now she is working out getting paid to be the caregiver for Emily.  She had advice on working with the insurance company for me as well.  We also talked therapy.  They are going to the Summit therapists and Inez says she's not too impressed there--I didn't talk about our experience but just said we moved elsewhere.  One difference--Emily is still in a wheelchair--she broke her pelvis in her accident.  They take her in the therapy pool a lot which works out perfect at the Summit.  Anyway Inez said that the best thing they do is horse therapy.  She talked to me a lot about it.  It's very expensive and insurance will not cover it--$95 per session.  They go once a week.  She said it's great for TBI and helps with all areas of the brain.  She said that they got people to donate money to pay for some of the sessions (48) and also got a scholarship from the people that do it to pay for more sessions (65).  Anyway, they love it and she invited us to come watch any week we want to.  I don't think we can go this week but I think we will try next week.  Something to think about--although the thoughts of having Bridgett on a horse and worrying about falling and hitting her head again are a little scary!

Day 220 - Saturday July 21, 2012

I sent an email early yesterday morning to Chare (that's how she spells it!) and another to the manager at the Summit expressing my feelings about the whole therapy sessions there.  It was kind of weird because the response I got surprised me--nothing from Chare or the manager but a call and an email from Denise.  She was very gracious and offered to hook me up with other therapists for OT and ST so is good.  I will give her a call on Monday and talk to her.  If I just didn't have to meet her at the Summit is wouldn't be bad to still meet with her.  We'll talk and try to figure it out.  Arrianne and I spent hours trying to figure out more of the bills from the accident.  It is really a nightmare partially because Bridgett was on our insurance at first and then moved to her own policy.  So many of the claims got submitted to the wrong insurance or to just one policy instead of both or whatever and had to be re-run again and still are getting reprocessed.  I finally told the insurance agent that we couldn't even pay our $5,000 deductible for this year because we can't figure out what processed to the deductible.  She has been putting together a spreadsheet of the claims that processed correctly and after two weeks finally emailed it to me late yesterday afternoon.  We spent the morning trying to get things to match up--there are stacks and stacks of bills and explanation of benefits (EOB's) to go through.  Anyway, out of everything I finally wrote three checks--that's it.  That's all that we could work out.  Many of the small deductible claims were to people who still haven't sent us a bill!  We can't pay those!!  Oh, well, we'll worry about it again another day!!  There are many from 2011 that we are going to dispute as well.  Our insurance was supposed to be paying 100% because we had met the deductible.  But since it was out of network there are many uncovered charges.  But supposedly since it was an accident they should cover it as in network.  Brother--what a mess!!

Day 219 - Friday July 20, 2012

Today was a great day.  First we saw Dorothy and then Bridgett and I went to eat at Charlie Wong's, where Jenn used to work.  Next we saw Brian Miller and that went especially well.  Brian is just great!  His office people were very kind and there were no disapproving stares at us.  Brian was impressed with how strong Bridgett is--just think how strong she was!  We talked about her lungs hurting when she jogs.  He said the lungs may have been damaged from everything or maybe just conditioning will help.  He said to have her do the NuStep every time we come in and before we leave to help build her endurance. Her balance was good.  He also worked on her neck.  He agrees that it is just hurting from muscles because of the neck brace she wore so long.  He said that before the next appointment or when we feel comfortable about it--to have her wash her own hair and then if she is stiff he can work out the muscles and take care of it before it gets out of hand.  Good idea!  I'm game to try!  We talked about her wreck and he says what all this info means to him is that her face and head took all of the force of the impact.  Every once in a while I think about the moments before impact and the terror she must have felt knowing what was happening and I can't stand that.  I try not to think about it.  Anyway as we left the office Bridgett said is he supposed to be ridiculously nice---because he is!!  I said yes he is supposed to be ridiculously nice!  One of his assistants overhead and gave a little chuckle.  Hopefully she will pass that on to Brian! 

Day 218 - Thursday July 19, 2012

Well we've learned a lot about brain injury through this experience and also a lot about being an advocate for our daughter.  No one else loves her like we do or has the vested interest in her well being like we do.  We are the best therapists that Bridgett has because we are with her all of the time.  We can and do learn things from other people and then we are the ones that implement those things all of the time.  We work with the doctors and therapists--they can't do it alone.  Some therapists realize this and they are a joy to work with.  Some therapists are insecure or whatever and they want to be totally in charge.  But their two hours a week spent with Bridgett will not be the only time that she heals.  In fact, with short term memory problems these two hours fade into the rest of the week UNLESS we are able to reinforce the things learned.  For that, we have to be there.  Experienced therapists realize that and want us to be with her and learn from them.  I am glad that we are finding other experienced therapists to work with who are wanting our help and input.

Day 217 - Wednesday July 18, 2012

Bridgett usually loves driving and she loves that feel of having the top down in her convertible and the wind blowing in her hair.  I don't think I posted this already--but we had an unfortunate situation where Mark had left something in the back window of the Mustang months ago when he brought it back here for her and when we tried to drive it last week and put the top down the back window broke out so now we are waiting to get it fixed. But Mark and I have both taken Bridgett out for a drive in the Lexus with the top down and she loved it! Lately when I have driven into town with her (35 miles one way) she has said that it was a wonderful drive.  It's so nice that she isn't getting carsick anymore and she can actually enjoy the ride.  Hopefully by the time we drive to Provo next month she will be OK with that drive, although we may have to break it up into two days of driving.  Arrianne will drive her car with Mark probably and I will drive my car with Steph and Bridgett.  Then if the drive is too long we can stop overnight somewhere and Mark and Arri can still get to Provo when they need to as Arrianne is on a schedule.  The second week we are there is when Bridgett will see her doctors.  I am very interested in finding out what the neuro ophthalmologist has to say about her progress with vision.  I think she is doing great and her eyes are doing better all of the time.  Both eyes are now tracking together but she still isn't able to move much past mid line with either eye.  

Day 216 - Tuesday July 17, 2012

More and more Bridgett is recognizing things around her.  When we drove into town today she was wondering where we were going and then she recognized familiar neighborhoods and knew when we were getting close to Vern and Dorothy's house.  She remembered Scott and Jaclyn's first apartment they lived in where Westy was born.  She had forgotten that we were going to Ginny Wood's house until we drove down Reserve and then she said oh I know where we're going--Ginny Wood's!  Bridgett continues to read off and on during the day and has finished Twilight, New Moon, and the first Harry Potter--all on the Kindle; I will download the 2nd Harry Potter tomorrow for her to read.  Thanks again for the Kindle Alicia; its been so great for Bridgett!  I just love technology!  She also loves playing 3-13's (a card game) and is always ready for a game.  Add in walking and her various brain/eye activities we do throughout the day and then mix in appointments to doctors and rehab and we keep pretty busy.  Of course, life goes on still and so there are all of the regular household duties--although everyone is great to help out, including Bridgett.

Day 215 - Monday July 16, 2012

Today was a restful day here.  Bridgett continues to walk 1-1/2 to 2 miles a day, interspersing her walking with jogging. She said to me the other day--I wish I didn't have so much energy cause all I want to do is walk!  Cute!  It is very uplifting to be with Bridgett as she always has a great attitude and she has unique appreciation for the beauty all around us.  I believe that many people that have had near death experiences have a real appreciation of many things that we take for granted.  Bridgett said something else the other day that made me cry--she came up to me and put her arms around me and said I'm sorry that I got in that wreck and scared you so much....I wasn't scared because I was in a coma.  It was so sweet how she was apologizing to me and it made me cry.

Day 214 - Sunday July 15, 2012

Today Bridgett went to church with Mark and Arrianne because Tyler was at drill and Stephany and I were sick. I just wanted to comment that whenever we go places people are very nice and understanding about Bridgett's injury and I never feel that judgmental feeling I felt at the rehab, thank goodness for that.  I do think that most people are unsure what to say to either Bridgett or to us and so they don't usually say much of anything.  Some people do try to talk to Bridgett; fewer talk to me.  I'm sure that it is hard to know what to say but I learned a long time ago it is better to just give people a hug and tell them you love them or that you are thinking and praying for them than to just ignore the situation.  I talked to Penny and she said that she has the same thing has happened to her--no one talks to her or to Courtney really.  On another note...hopefully Stephany and I will get over this cold we have very soon so that we can all enjoy the good weather and the summer together--only five weeks until we take Arrianne back to Utah and that will be very hard on all of us.  I don't think that most people really realize the impact this has had on the entire family.  We were already very close as a family but this has drawn us even closer and it is hard for any of us to not be with Bridgett as much as possible right now.  This has been a very interesting and wonderful week for us as Bridgett has started to remember some very spiritual experiences she had while in a coma.  At some point I am sure that Bridgett will discuss these experiences with others but for now they are very sacred and I am not ready to post them to the world but I do testify that Heavenly Father knows each of us individually, that heaven is very close to us and miracles do happen.

Day 213 - Saturday July 14, 2012 seven months since the wreck

Our driveway is pretty long and walking down and back is about 1/4 of a mile.  Bridgett has been going out and walking the length of the driveway about 8 times a day, sometimes doing 2 times down the driveway in a row.  Since we've had this hot weather this past week we haven't gone out in the middle of the day (because no one wanted to go with her!) so she's only been doing 4-5 times.  She jogs part of time each time out and she's got pretty good form actually.  She would like to jog the entire time and doesn't seem to tire but her lungs start hurting and she has to slow back to a walk.  She's been taking something for a lung infection but we might have to try something else as it doesn't seem to be improving.  Bridgett and I walked over and took at look at her bike this week.  It's over by the other garage and she hadn't seen it yet.  It is snapped right in half, well, snapped just behind the steering wheel and the wheels are bent.  She was sad to see it--she calls her bike Yakov (remember that she has always named things!).  Anyway, Yakov is definitely dead.  The warranty on the bike frame, lifetime warranty, excluded any wreck (one wonders what else would make the frame snap!) so for now we will not replace it.  The helmet looks almost perfect but once a helmet has taken a hit it is no good--her helmet is warrantied even for an accident and will be replaced--we need to do that still.

Day 212 - Friday July 13, 2012

Today Bridgett saw one of our friends and they were talking about how she wants to do a triathlon still.  But she said that she doesn't want to ride on the road ever again.  Good idea the friend said.  When Arri and Bridgett got home they were telling me about this and Arrianne repeated what Bridgett had said about never riding on the road again and they Bridgett said maybe if someone paid me to I would--what a funny girl!   Bridgett is always saying the funniest things I just don't always post them, but today I grabbed a pen and wrote some of them down.  She was asking about what earrings she was wearing when she wrecked and I said either she wasn't wearing any earrings or maybe we just didn't get them back to which I got one of her pouty faces.   Then I said well it wasn't like you had on $5,000 earrings or anything and she said no at most they would have been like $13 earrings!  We had an outdoors magazine on the table and on the front it said survival tips that can save your life--Bridgett read the headline and then said don't let a truck hit you!  When we went out walking today Bridgett started jogging.  Arrianne had walked up ahead of us and started jogging so that she would meet Bridgett as she went past.  As they evened up Bridgett started going faster and yelled I'm going to win--she hasn't lost her competitive spirit!   Life is always fun and eventful with Bridgett around!

Day 211 - Thursday July 12, 2012

This morning we had an appointment with Dr. Lindsay.  We just really love him as a doctor; I mean he's just great!  He is always so nice to us and he is very positive about Bridgett's progress.  So many of the people we have met with in the past have given us a sad smile and a shake of the head and I feel that they are silently telling us they are sorry for us.  I am looking forward to the future and happy with the progress so far; I chose to remain positive.  When we see Dr. Lindsay he always has a great smile and is genuinely happy to see Bridgett so happy and animated.  He always tells her and us that she is doing great.  He said he expects great things of her and can't wait to see where she ends up.  Today he gave us the great news that although Bridgett was anoxic for at least 20 minutes there is no evidence of this on her MRI!   Yippee!!  He believes that her eyes are healing and that there is a great chance that surgery will be unnecessary; although he did say that he wasn't a neuro ophthalmologist and he defers to the specialists.  We also had a discussion about her rehab sessions here.  I had a bad experience at rehab Wednesday with the speech therapist and I discussed it with him.  He agreed that it would be best to switch to another therapist and endorsed the person I want to see and gave us a new prescription for speech therapy.  I also asked for another prescription for PT.  I really like Kim at PT at the Summit but she isn't really geared for what is needed with Bridgett.  The PTs at outpatient rehab at the hospitals are geared for what they call functional movement, which Bridgett is doing great with.  However, she is still a ways off from being able to return to her normal workouts--which she wants to do.  Brian is a runner and a great therapist and he will be wonderful for her. So, my issue with speech therapy here--I was worried about what Share would say to Bridgett about her evaluation results.  She did not do the best job of talking to us about the results, merely telling Bridgett that her short term memory is not good, nor her immediate memory.  She said (pointing to her head) there's nothing up here so this is your brain now (pointing to her planner).  I thought that someone could say something like this instead--your short term memory is a little weak now but will get better with time--for now we can use tools to help us like this planner.  BTW-Dr. Lindsay did say that Bridgett was in the early stages of a recovery that lasts 18-24 months and the things that take the longest to heal in the brain are executive functions, short term memory issues etc.  He was not worried about that at all.  Bridgett just took it in stride and didn't seem upset by Share's comments.  But then she proceeded to tell us that Bridgett is too attached to us and needs separation.  She said that Bridgett should go to her room for five minutes and a timer should be put on and she has to stay until it rings and then build up time.  I told her that Bridgett already goes to her room to read a couple of times a day for 20-30 minutes by herself.  Oh she said.  Well we think that you should drop Bridgett off here and leave her for three hours and we will be in charge until you return so that you get time alone.  First of all, I don't really know or trust these people yet.  Second, we have been instructed to stay with her and make sure that she doesn't accidentally hit her head for at least a year.  Anyway, she said they don't like it that Bridgett touches me and wants to kiss me.  Brother!  I mean really--if someone wakes up from a coma mad and angry and yells and swears at people--no problem.  But if someone wakes up happy and loving then we had better fix them fast!  Wow--what an attitude.  Anyway, I am not wanting to take Bridgett back there and luckily we have other options which are better options.  BTW Bridgett acts just as loving to her entire family and wants to kiss them and hug them too.  And Bridgett regularly stays with others in the family while I do other things.  I thought it was very unprofessional for her to decide these things when she barely knows Bridgett and to discuss them in the last five minutes of the session in front of Bridgett--she could have talked to me privately about it.  Dr. Lindsay agreed with us about this, shook his head and apologized (not his fault).  Dr. Lindsay also had a comment on another subject--I said that Dr. Meislik said that we should be so thankful that Bridgett's brain is ignoring her vision in the left eye.  I said that at first we were told that only children are able to do this, not adults (ignore the vision in one eye).  Dr. Lindsay said that this is good proof that Bridgett's brain is very plastic and able to heal--great news!  

Day 210 - Wednesday July 11, 2012

I don't know if I mentioned it but Bridgett's new watch arrived a couple of days ago.  We got it all set up and she wears it every day.  She can look at the watch to find out what day of the week it is and what the date is.  We are encouraging her to do that all the time and it will become a habit soon.  Also, she continues to carry her schedule book everywhere; for now it will be her "memory".  Today when we had speech therapy Share looked over what Bridgett has recorded and encouraged her to be more specific about what she did each day.  For example instead of just writing shopping, put down where she shopped and if she bought something for herself or just helped me shop.  Bridgett is also so positive and cute about things--when anyone suggests that she do something different she says wonderful idea, I like that!  She remembered Share's office and Share herself, she just didn't remember her name (of course it's an uncommon name and I can't figure out how to tell you she pronounces it but shar to rhyme with bar and then long e).  Share finished the session by having Bridgett do some naming from a book.  Wow--they had some really random things to name like a picture of a trellis, a sphinx and an abacus--whatever!  Anyway, next we had PT with Kim and that went well also. Kim was really good with Bridgett and she worked on balance and hip stability.  Bridgett's balance is really quite good but standing on one foot is challenging.  They are working on her being able to stand on one foot for 30 seconds.  After rehab we met Arrianne and Stephany and we all went shopping at the mall.  It was a fun time for all of us and the girls found some cute clothes.  Bridgett loves the symbol of the fleur de lis and she found a really cute shirt with that symbol on it.  That is what Dave had put on two of her hats because he knew she liked that; very thoughtful Dave!

Day 209 - Tuesday July 10, 2012

Linda Grinde (Brain Gym) recommended that I read a book called My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. It was very interesting reading and gave me a lot to think about. Jill, a brain scientist, had a stroke herself and recovered with the help of her mother.  Today Bridgett had acupuncture with Sara Marie.  Arrianne took her there because I had to be at another appointment with Tyler.  I said to Bridgett before they left--what are you supposed to take with you and she said my planner.  That's right!  She's supposed to take it everywhere so she can keep on track about things.  Anyway after the appointment Arrianne told me that Bridgett went right over to the schedule desk and sat down and said she needed another appointment.  The gal said when do you want to come and Bridgett said how about on the 24th in two weeks.  The gal said fine--do you want morning or afternoon and Bridgett said it doesn't matter.   Arrianne then pointed to the bottom of that day which said family reunion (but didn't say anything) and so Bridgett said oh I guess it needs to be morning.  The gal said 11:30 and Bridgett said OK and wrote it down--wow!  Arrianne said it was just--well--like normal!!  Cool!  Little things are way exciting to us!  This evening Bridgett did a lot of walking when it cooled down a little.  It's been so hot here! 

Day 208 - Monday July 9, 2012

Today was a rehab day.  First we had Denise for OT and that went good.  Denise went over Bridgett's list that she made up at home of jobs that she will do every day.  Denise asked Bridgett to kind of fine tune it so it said exactly what she would do--not just sweep the floor but what floor and when during the day. Then she said when you get a big planner put the jobs in the planner.  We all talked about eye exercises and showed her what we do daily.  Next Denise had her send a text to herself.  Finally we found to our surprise that Denise has a DynaVision although I had called and asked about that and everyone said they didn't; apparently people don't know what it is!  Anyway, she had Bridgett do some exercises with the DynaVision.  The first attempt she got 29 buttons.  I will have to call Kasey and see what her count was the last time with him but I think she was faster and better this time even though its been like two months since she's done it.  Next we had PT with Kim.  Mark and I actually know Kim from years ago in Missoula from the student ward; she and Mark were students.  Anyway Kim was just doing the assessment.  She said there's a little bit to work on but mostly Bridgett is doing well.  From a functional standpoint I agree but she is still a ways from getting back to where she was physically before the accident.  I made a note to talk to Dr. Linsday about taking her to another PT--Brian Miller.  Arrianne saw him before and he's great!    He's a runner as well and teaches running clinics--just up Bridgett's alley since she loves running and did a half marathon in October.  Last we saw Share for ST and she gave Bridgett a very nice planner to track things.  In the beginning of each month there is a full month's calendar actually starting with July  and going through the end of 2013 (wow!).  Then there are by the week pages for the month with big spaces to write things.  Bridgett brought it home and put her appointments on the first large calendar and then what she actually does each day on the following pages.  Cool!  Share also gave Bridgett an assessment test.  Bridgett was very happy with her responses on each section and said I'm so proud of myself.  Share said great on some sections and on one section she said well that wasn't your best section actually--not too stellar.  But it didn't faze Bridgett at all--she always remains positive.  Share said she would score it and then go over it with us on Wednesday.  I'm trying to decide if it's really that great to tell Bridgett exactly how she did on some things.  In my book the goal of rehab should be to inspire people to work harder not discourage them with too stark of reality.  I think if Bridgett did poorly on some sections we should tell her she has work to do to get that up to where is should be instead of saying you were in the whatever percentile for people your age.  Hum....I'll have to think about this before we go Wednesday.

Day 207 - Sunday July 8, 2012

It was another fun day of visiting and playing games.  Bridgett as always was in a great mood.  She is quick with responses and still has a great sense of humor.  She finished reading New Moon and I "borrowed" a kindle book--Harry Potter book one and she started reading that.  Bridgett has all seven books and loved reading them.  We had tried to have her read book one a while back and although she can read the print her eyes get too fatigued.  This was actually the first normal print she tried to read.  Anyway, this way she can read and enjoy the book without straining her eyes.

Day 206 - Saturday July 7, 2012

It's been great to have my brother Dave here for the past several days.  Bridgett was very close to his family and I can see her interacting with them in a really great way.  Bridgett had not only spent quite a bit of time with them at their home but she also was regularly "training" with Dave.  They worked out together, ran together and rode bikes together.  Even before Dave came Bridgett was talking about getting back to training for a triathlon but these past couple of days she has been talking to me about getting back into shape and I can see that she has a goal.  She is asking to go out walking many times a day and is almost always jogging when she goes out.  Of course, someone is always with her to make sure that she is safe.  We are serious about the direction we have been given to watch her for the entire first year to make sure that she doesn't hit her head again.  After hitting her head when she passed out we have very strong proof of why this is important.  She talked to me yesterday about strengthening her abs and she wants to start doing sit-ups regularly. Additionally not only has she been asking to work out she has been ASKING to do her eye exercises every day which is wonderful because really she hates doing them.  Several times a day she says can you do that eye thing now and she demonstrates with her hands; she even asked me at 11:00 at night on Friday!  She started asking about the eye exercises after we saw the eye doctor.  Perhaps she understood his feeling that surgery might not help and perhaps it's because we talked about surgery.  She always tells me that she doesn't ever want to have surgery again.  I tell her that it's important to do the exercises and wear the dreaded pinhole glasses in order to help her eyes so that she might avoid surgery.  Bridgett really hates the pinhole glasses; she states that they make her look ugly and dumb but she does use them every time I ask her to.  Dave said maybe he should bling them up so that they are more fun to wear!  It's an idea! 

Day 205 - Friday July 6, 2012

Well today was an interesting day.  We went to see the ophthalmologist today and he was VERY nice----Dr. Meislik.  Actually the whole office was very nice. The gal that met us first and collected information was so nice and she told Bridgett that she was an inspiration.  The Dr. came in next and did his examination.  In some ways it was a great appointment but I also came home somewhat disheartened.  Dr. Meislik said that he thought that Bridgett was doing amazing.  He said that her near vision was doing just fine with no correction--although she does get fatigued reading at a normal font; she can read about a half a paragraph at normal font now.  He said that her left eye vision was about 20/40 so no correction needed.  Bridgett maintains that she is not seeing double and he said be thankful that her brain is ignoring the left eye and so that she doesn't see double.  Otherwise he said that she wouldn't be able to tolerate seeing anything--she'd be going crazy with what she did see.  He said usually an adult will not be able to block that double vision--so she is lucky that she can.  Her right optic nerve looks great--the left optic nerve still looks damaged.  I discussed surgery with him a little bit.  His opinion--it is very likely that surgery will not be able to correct the damage anyway.  I pointed out that the surgery they are contemplating would be just the left eye and neither eye can see past mid line to the outside--so surgery wouldn't help the right eye.  He said at this point we just need to wait and see what happens.  He still feels that it is early in the healing process.  He had us schedule to see him again is six months.  He wants us to still follow up with the Moran Eye Center in August and see what they say, as they initially examined the eyes. I came home somewhat discouraged about the whole thing.  It is just crazy that probably the biggest road block to her recovery happened when they saved her life--ironic really.  But she is alive and here with us and we do love her so much.  Later on in the afternoon I talked to another doctor in Kansas about a natural supplement that he believes can help Bridgett's brain injury and her eye.  He was very sweet on the phone.  He said that the situation is tragic and that made me tear up.  Luckily I have a cold so he probably couldn't tell.  I try not to think about the tragedy part and just stay optimistic about things.  At the end of the phone call he asked for Bridgett's name so that he could pray for her.  I will say that we certainly have met a lot of amazing people during that past almost seven months and we have had many wonderful experiences.  I do believe that Bridgett has touched many lives with her wonderful and happy attitude.  In fact, I spoke to a woman on the phone about Bridgett's injuries and she said oh your daughter must be so depressed.  On the contrary, Bridgett is just happy, smiling and wonderful all of the time.  Her personality is definitely intact and for that we are all so very thankful. 

Day 204 - Thursday July 5, 2012

Every day Bridgett talks about her wreck and what happened.  It seems that more and more she is really processing the whole thing.  Today we got to the point where she said does that guy know that I'm mad that he hit me?  I said well he doesn't KNOW because we haven't talked to him but I bet he probably guesses you are upset about it.  For quite a while now when Bridgett goes on a walk down the driveway she has been jogging some part of it.  A few days ago she showed me how she swims, with strokes and breathing.  Today she told me that she wants to start training for a triathlon again.  I said OK but we have to find some way for you to be safe while you are riding your bike.  I said that when we meet with the PT guy on Monday and he asks what your goals are you can tell him what you want to do.  We'll see how that all works out.  I really have no desire for her to get on a bike again at all, but we'll see.  I think I forgot to post this but if I did already then sorry--a while back when Bridgett and I were on a walk we were talking about summer plans.  I mentioned that we would be going back to Utah at the end of August so that Arrianne could get back to school and we would be seeing doctors for Bridgett.  She said to me I think I'll be ready by then to go back.  I said go back?  And she said yes to go back to school.  OK I said.  Of course, she won't be ready to move back and live by herself by any means but maybe she can take a non-credit class with me and we'll see how that goes.  Then the following semester we can talk about going back to school.  When we got inside (and while Bridgett was still by me) I told Mark that Bridgett wanted to go back to school. He asked her what she wanted to study and she said that she was still thinking about that.

Day 203 - Wednesday July 4, 2012

This morning  about 8:40 we headed to the church for the annual 4th of July breakfast.  Dave's boys stayed home with Tyler and went fishing.  Mark was cooking at the breakfast as usual.  Arrianne sang the national anthem for the second year in a row.  Jaiden and Stephany cruised around talking.  Bridgett and I talked to a few people. After about an hour Bridgett had been out enough and we headed home for something to eat (they didn't serve gluten free pancakes there!).  Scott, Jaclyn and Weston came out in the afternoon and everyone enjoyed boating, tubing, and wake boarding.  Bridgett had been down to the lake once but didn't want to put her feet in.  Also she rode with Mark when he put the boat in.  However, today she had no desire to go to the lake at all, so she and I stayed inside.  We usually go out in the boat and watch fireworks here on Swan Lake.  All day long Bridgett said she wanted to go and do that as long as it wasn't too loud.  I kept thinking about it and it is very loud.  Sound really travels on water and it usually echos quite a bit with the loud explosions.  By evening Dave's family was shot and wanted to head to bed; Scott's family had left earlier because Weston was so worn out.  Mark and I talked about it and we decided to just stay and watch the fireworks from the deck, however the mosquitoes were out in full force so we stayed inside and watched.  We still have an excellent view of the fireworks, so it was fine.  It ended up that it was a good decision to just stay inside--once we get out there on the boat in the dark we have to stay until everyone leaves for safety sake.  After only about 10 minutes of fireworks Bridgett said that she wanted to go lay in bed and read--she was done!  So all good. 

Day 202 - Tuesday July 3, 2012

I had to cancel Bridgett's PT eval today because I was sick.  Mark offered to take her in, but since he is not usually at the appointments I wanted to be sure to be there at first so there was no chance that they would have her do something that she couldn't do. Uncle Dave and his kids arrived this evening to visit for several days.  Bridgett was so excited to see them.  I asked her who was her favorite uncle and she said this is him--my favorite uncle Dave.  Then she said of course I only have one uncle Dave so naturally he'd be my favorite uncle Dave!  Dave brought her another hat--he's given her four now since the accident and she LOVES them all!  She remembered everyone just great and sat and played games and visited for a long time.  She was all smiles and it was so fun!  The cousins were all trying to get Bridgett to say that they were her favorite cousin, but it seems that she always goes back to Jackson first, Jaiden second and Justus third--much to Justus's frustration.  If he's the only one in the room she tells him he's her favorite, but as soon and any of the other cousins enter the room, he gets bumped down.  Of course, it's all in good fun.

Day 201 - Monday July 2, 2012

I talked to Kasey at the Low Vision Clinic today and it was fun to catch up a little on Bridgett's progress.  I wanted to ask him what kind of watch he had because it was so easy for Bridgett to read and displays the day of the week, the month and day and the time.  It turns out it was a Timex Iron man watch.  I looked them up on Amazon and they are used by athletes for triathlons so I thought that was cool since Bridgett was training for a triathlon!  There were several color choices but Bridgett was sure that she wanted the purple one.  Her sisters, ever worried about what she would have liked normally, tried to persuade her to get the silver one but to no avail.  I said maybe later on she will change her mind but for now--she'll wear a purple watch!  We had evaluations for starting rehab here in Montana.  It has taken quite some time to get our policy switched over to a Montana policy and we don't darn incur anymore out of network charges than we already have.  I liked the two gals we met with--Denise for occupational therapy and Share for speech therapy.  Tomorrow we will have the physical therapy evaluation .

Day 200 - Sunday July 1, 2012

Today was a pretty quiet day.  Usually on the 4th of July weekend we have over a thousand people at Sacrament meeting, due to the Canadian travelers who are visiting celebrating their independence day; many of them own property on one of the nearby lakes.  Also, many Americans are traveling for our holiday.  We were told to keep Bridgett out of large crowds and I think this qualifies so we stayed home today.  It was a quiet day of visiting, playing games and reading.  After Mark got home from church he and I had some time to discuss Bridgett's vision a little bit.  When you look at her face her eyes seem to be doing better all of the time.  Her vision appears to be improving as well.  However, I wanted Mark to watch her eyes while she is reading.  If you sit across the room from her while she reads the Kindle you can see that her left eye "bounces" around a lot while she is reading.  This seems to get worse the longer she reads.  We have an appointment with an opthamologist here in Kalispell on Friday so we will see what he has to say about everything.  Of course we also have a follow up appointment at the Moran Eye Center when we go back to Salt Lake at the end of August.

Day 199 - Saturday June 30, 2012

Today Bridgett and I were looking at pictures of the family.  I pointed to a picture of her and said you are just so beautiful.  She said---I have a beautiful aura! That was so cute!  Bridgett's latest thing is to talk in different voices and accents.  Arrianne said that they used to have fun talking in accents and that one day when they were in Provo they walked around for over an hour speaking in an English accent.  Bridgett also has been counting in Spanish and German lately, and of course she still signs.  It is also cute to see her "sing along" with Arrianne while Arri sings opera.  Bridgett makes little gestures like she's a diva and she actually knows most of the words even when Arri sings in another language.