July Update

7-4-98

On Monday, my sister Angela (who is visiting as mentioned last week) watched Catherine in physical therapy and was impressed with her efforts to walk in a walker. When we got home, I left her standing by herself for a minute and she must have tried to change positions and lost her balance. We helplessly watched as if in slow motion as she fell over and hit her head on the wall. It was pretty scary for a moment, but she didn't hurt herself.

I told Catherine that her brother Steve was experiencing some difficulty trying to purchase a home and she started singing, "God will make this trial a blessing." Then I told her that her sisters sang that song in church when she was in the coma.

On Tuesday, her walking had improved so much, in just one day, we took video of her as she walked with the walker. Her progression seems to be directly related to her determination to be walking soon.

On Wednesday, Catherine had her second horse ride. She really loves it. The instructor explained why the movement of the horse is excellent therapy for balance. The gate of the horse as it walks moves the riders hips in the same motion as when we walk, causing an unconscious balance to take place.

Catherine got new lenses for her glasses with a special prism to help with the double vision. They help for seeing at a distance but she still sees double when looking close as when she is using the computer or reading. Now she alternates from one pair to another,  using the glasses with the blocked out lens for her near vision. We bought balloons, a windmill, and whistles for Catherine to get more practice with blowing, to help her breathing and ultimately her voice.

On Thursday Catherine went swimming at one of the therapists' private pool. This is also excellent for her and we are thankful for the generosity of the therapist for the use of her pool and her time to further Catherine's rehab. Friday, Catherine walked by herself with the therapist behind her. They used a "gate belt" and Catherine took very small steps with pauses to catch her
balance but she WALKED! She was thrilled and we whooped, clapped and cheered. She was excited to tell everyone she could. This is a great milestone and will only get better from here. I am sure the added equestrian and aquatic therapies are
speeding up this process.

Catherine's front yard with her Aunt Angie and her daughter Becka. 7-10-98

This week was hectic with lots of visitors, but the therapy schedule itself was very different. Speech therapy was temporarily cancelled for this week, leaving an extra hour free from 11-12 each day except Monday. This also allowed her to get off a half hour earlier in the afternoon at 2. We made use of the extra time by setting up a dental appointment (yea, no cavities!)

She spent time with her Aunt Angie learning more about some new computer programs that she had added for us. Catherine enjoys working on the computer, but needs instruction, which Angie can give. It rained so hard on Wednesday that her equestrian therapy was cancelled. She managed a trip to Jitters coffee shop with her sister Joy, who also visited from Phoenix, and a trip to the mall.  We went through everything in her room and rearranged it, using her newly acquired gifts she had received while in the hospital. She was very pleased with the results and when I asked her why she was smiling, she said because she was so happy
about her room.  We also worked long and hard on a scrapbook which will be a long time in the making at the rate it takes us. It is a project  we can just keep working on.

Catherine still cannot fully extend her left elbow, no matter how they work on it in therapy, so she had to have it xrayed to see if there was any bone ossification. Catherine was very concerned, because it could mean surgery to remove bone growth if any showed up. She said she refused to accept this diagnosis and was very relieved to get a negative report. The occupational therapist  will be working to find other ways to extend her arm. Catherine begged her therapist, Craig, to allow her to bring home her walker that she uses. When she was pleading with her high pitched pppllllleeeeaase, he told her, "That might work on your Dad and Mom, but not on me". Guess what!!!! It did work and she got to bring her walker home. She used it for the first time on Thursday, at home on the carpet.

We are going to Phoenix over the weekend to see her family there and she wants to take her walker and show off what she is doing.  We are planning to attend church in Phoenix so that some of the many brothers and sisters that have been praying can see what is taking place.....the wonderous miracle.

We mentioned last week that we would be in Phoenix for church and Catherine insisted on walking into church on her walker. This was a first for her and she was very dertermined to accomplish it in spite of thick carpeting. It was very touching to watch her make this effort and sit in a pew.

Her therapies all resumed this week. She loves her horse therapy and it is the highlight of her week. She rode backwards, as this forces good posture and we could tell the difference when she turned back around. She had been leaning back as she rode and after riding backwards, sat much more erect . The horse also trotted with her which she loved.

Friday she had a doctors appointment with a new doctor. He told her that this is her job right now and she has to show up, put her time in and work hard. We've been telling her this in a similar way, but it seemed to make more of an impression coming from him. I told her the "pay check" was at the end of the therapies when she will walk, talk and have all of her functions normal. We are scheduled to go to Northern Arizona University to the speech lab on Monday afternoon. They have fun, sophisticated machinery that will let her watch the inflections of her voice as well as hearing herself. My regret is that I didn't tape her from the first vocalization 'til now, so she could hear the improvements we all hear. I should have chronicled her walking also for her benefit. I have this web page as a written chronicle of her progress, but a video of the progress would have done more than words can do.

Brother Roy Shrewsbury and wife visiting Catherine during the Flagstaff Tabernacle July meetings. 7-23-98

Dear friends, this week has been a very hectic one as Flagstaff Tabernacle had our annual July special meetings. We will do our best to make up for it later this week with a 2 week update.

Catherine's therapies have been cut back to one hour each for speech, physical and occupational therapy. She now goes from 9 am -12 noon each day, with her afternoons free. She goes to her equestrian therapy on Wednesdays and now has started going in to "Route 66 Travel" (her former job) for a couple of hours on Thursdays from 1-3. She enjoys being there and stamps brochures and visits.

On Friday the 24th, we went out to eat with the Shrewsbury's. Last weekend was busy with the special services and Catherine went to a young people's outing each night.

Sunday, she decided to crawl, to get around independent of us. This worked fine until she got a sore knee and rubbed a place on her foot.  She tried using crutches for the first time in physical therapy. It was slow at first, but she is progressing and pushing herself, as well as everyone else.

At the hospital, we met another family and were discussing their sons brain injury and "comparing notes" as to what we were doing. During the discussion, Catherine came up from therapy, as she had just finished for the day. She suggested equestrian therapy and then asked if they had considered Barrows. I was very pleased to hear her contribution and the sharing of her own experiences. One of the therapists said that she had really noticed a change, as though Catherine had turned another corner cognitively. She is so determined to work and get better, instead or worrying about it. Catherine asked me if I had noticed that she doesn't keep asking when she will get better. She said that's because she KNOWS she is going to get better, even though she can't picture herself totally back to normal in her mind's eye.

On Thursday the 30th, the therapist tried using just one crutch and Catherine walked for a bit like that. When we got home she wanted to walk down the block and back with her walker to practice. She said she wants to do this everyday to gain speed and get better faster. On Friday, Catherine's left arm measurement was just 7 degrees from being straight. Considering that only a few short weeks ago, the hospital was thinking there may be bone ossification, preventing it from straightening, it is amazing.

Catherine spends a lot of time on the computer, editing old stories she had written previously. She takes them to Speech therapy and reads them to her therapists. Her voice inflection is improving and she is starting to read a bit faster. Having the computer has been a real blessing for her to spend time using her hands and mind in the afternoons. She is still limited to typing with just one finger, but hopefully she'll soon be a two handed typist again.

The granddaughter of a woman that worked in the business office with me at the hospital, had a car accident a couple of weeks ago. She has been in ICU with a brain injury and was in a coma. I went to see her grandmother the next day and another employee of the hospital stopped by. As she was being filled in on the granddaughter's situation, she reminded the grandmother of "the girl that was brought up here from Tucson who wasn't supposed to be alive or talking or any of the things she is doing". I told her that it was my daughter and rejoiced that Catherine can be used as an example of a miracle and for her not to give up.