The 1st week in Tucson hospital

The 1st week or 2 in Flagstaff hospital

Early March. Her hands are wrapped in an effort to keep them from clenching.

March has been a relatively quiet month with our big Tucson trip in February behind us. It seems a good time for reflecting and looking over the year to remind ourselves  how far Catherine has come. We are also preparing for a month at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. We will spend the month of April there while Catherine participates in the outpatient day program. We have a place to stay that is in close proximity to the facility and will drive home on the weekends.

When Mary Jane, her cognitive retrainer, came for her scheduled time the first Friday in March, we sat and reassessed goals for Catherine's progress. She spoke with one of the therapists at the hospital and they agreed upon a plan to make a chart with activities on it to be checked off daily as they are completed, eventually changing the chart of duties as she becomes more proficient and can add more demanding assignments. After Mary Jane told Catherine that she could and should be doing more, she once again rose to the occasion. I found her in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher in the morning. She had made her bed and taken care of all her own needs without asking anyone's help. She said she needed to get up earlier in order to do more chores. She started fixing her own coffee and breakfast. Her ataxic motor control makes these tasks more difficult but she is proudly accomplishing more and more for herself. I realized that I had fallen into a rut of routinely doing too much and expecting too little and it had come time for Catherine to press beyond her limits once again. It helps to have someone else observe and point out what that next step is because ruts or habits are easy to fall into. This ability to push and do more for herself will be an asset when she enters Barrow. We discontinued the horse therapy this month when the winter session ended and the spring session was to begin after Spring break. We will pick it back up after we return from Barrows and the summer schedule begins. Catherine is anxious to complete her high school curriculum so that she can continue her education by taking college courses. She has decided, at this point, she would like to be a teacher and teach kindergarten or first grade. Mary Jane said that that is an excellent field for anyone who has had a brain injury because of the structure required. A teacher has lesson plans and follows a systematic agenda. It is good to see Catherine have dreams, goals, and aspirations to keep working towards.

Early March. Notice the clenched fist and bent arm.

In keeping with my review theme, I looked back over some of the prayer requests we had desperately asked everyone to remember. In April Catherine had a bad skin rash and her muscles were so tight. We were praying for help with her foot drop after trying many different boots and splints. Catherine has no side affects at all from the extreme foot drop. I can only attribute this to the Lord's help as there have been others who weren't in a coma as long as she and have problems still as a result of foot drop. Catherine's skin rash completely cleared up and she has no problem at all with that irritating condition. In May Catherine made up a list of requests that were important to her:

• to sleep through the night----she has a normal sleep pattern now

• to walk out of the hospital by June 14----she was discharged on June 9^th although she wasn't walking independently

• to talk and sing completely normal-----her voice has greatly improved. To others it sounds fine with normal inflections. To Catherine, it still isn't her "normal pre-accident" voice and she is holding out to have that completely the same as before.

• to straighten her left arm all the way----she can straighten her arm to all but 3 degrees

• to clear up her double vision and wandering eye----Cath had this prayer answered in a miraculous way. She woke up on a Sunday morning and no longer had double vision. Her eye does not wander at all now.

• to be 100% normal----this is the journey of healing that we are witnessing take place. She has areas that are not fully 100%, but other areas that are more than 100% improved. Most of the prevailing residual affects are physical. Please continue to pray for healing for her ataxia which hinders the use of the right extremities.

Early March. Still unable to hold her head up.

April 10. Aunt Mary flexing her arm.

I put together a highlight video from my tapes that I've made over the months of recovery. I didn't have a very systematic plan for making a video journal and know now that it would have been helpful if I had. However, I have enough different stages that once put together give a definite feel for the progress made from coma, to semi coma, to therapies, and progress through to the present. I took the tape to Tucson hoping to have it going in the background as different people came into the room where we were. It didn't work out as I had planned. However, this effort on my part made me determined to find a professional who could put together a nicer product by having seamless passages from one spot to another and possibly dub voice-overs and incorporate a few still shots that help tell the story. I gave Robin Perin, who wasn't here to see the progress personally, the highlight tape to review and here are her observations  (which also adds to my desire to make a really good one):

"I really wanted to say that watching the tape of a year of Catherine made me know absolutely and truly that you will recover all that you desire. It is an incredible miracle to watch that tape, as at each level or month, one is prone to say, 'O.K., this is the best that is going to be', but then the next month is so much better.

Now I know that if you are living the life by the hour, you don't perhaps see the progress or feel it or appreciate it, but that tape is a testament to many things. And I cannot tell you how neat it was to watch it step by step and to go from the coma to the celebration party is an amazing thing."

I have pulled out a few pictures to once again show the various stages even noticing her lack of response and her curled left arm that was so hard to get straight. We have to "roll back the curtain of memory now and then" to keep our attitude and gratitude what it should be. Once again I thank all of you for your prayer, love and interest. This miracle is one that has been shared by so many all over the world via prayer.