September Update

9-9-98

On Friday (the 4^th), Catherine went on an annual trip to a cabin in Colorado with the church young people. At first, Catherine was adamant that she wasn’t going, but her cousin, Matt, told her he would look after her by taking his 4 wheeler so that he could take her wherever the kids went. She went from pointing her finger at him, saying “NO!”, to “Ok, I’ll go”.

They got to the cabin in the wee hours of Sat. morning. Later that day she went fishing and caught a small fish but her line got tangled with someone else's. She had great fun riding the 4 wheeler, yelling "Yahoo!" as they would take off. When she arrived home, she told her mother it was a BLAST!

This week the family has taken Catherine to Barrow's Neurological Center for evaluation for further therapies. I will be gone on vacation for a week, so will make the updates as soon after the 19^th or 20^th as possible.

As mentioned in the last update, Catherine went to Phoenix to Barrow Outpatient Day Hospital for evaluations from Tuesday Sept. 8^th, through Friday Sept. 11^th.  The evaluations were for physical, occupational, and speech therapies, and other testing by the neuropsychologist.

On Friday, after all the testing was done, we met with 2 of the doctors to discuss some of the findings. The staff at Barrows felt she is ready to go to the next level in her recovery process and definitely recommended a program like theirs and felt Catherine was ready for it. However, Catherine personally didn't feel ready, but the doctors explained that that was typical. So until she does, they will write a letter outlining the findings from the tests and make recommendations and suggestions to the staff at Flagstaff Medical Center. They recommended more independence at home, i.e., to give Catherine more chores to do in addition to her personal care. She can learn to wash dishes, dust, etc.

The neuropsychologist said he was surprised at Catherine's progress in light of the severity of her injury. He said that strengths and weaknesses had been identified. Catherine's biggest difficulty is her speed of learning and complex attention. Coordination is also a problem. She needs help with organized thinking and problem solving. She doesn't have a problem identifying objects
and thinking of names, but has trouble pulling them up on demand. For example, when asked to name as many animals in a specific amount of time, her mind went blank. She has trouble recalling details after hearing a paragraph read to her. Her memory is surprisingly good otherwise.

This is a brief summary but we will know more after a written report is received with more detail as to the findings. Flagstaff offers excellent therapy as far as the physical goes, but is lacking the cognitive portion that she needs. Barrows is very willing to be a resource if we don't chose to go there, but we'll see what suggestions are offered when this is presented. Catherine was very resistant to leaving her comfort zone, as she put it, and wants to continue therapy in Flagstaff. Although she is very aware of her physical deficits, she doesn't realize what is needed as far as the cognitive rehab goes.

We were glad to get home and had a nice weekend.  On Monday morning Catherine was very excited to be going to FMC to work with her therapists again. Monday evening was Bible Study and when I picked her up, she told me that she was glad
the accident had happened because she never realized how much she loved everyone nor how much they loved her.

On Wednesday, Catherine walked, albeit very slowly and deliberately with her therapist, by herself from the rehab gym to the outpatient area and back again. (Perhaps some 50 to 100 paces) She was very excited. That night she insisted on walking into church with one crutch for the first time.

Friday was a very hard day for us. The therapists said that the time has come to cut down therapy with them to 3 times a week instead of 5. Catherine begged them not to, as this made her goal of walking by her birthday seem to be put off. She loves her routine of leaving each morning to go to "work". It has been a positive schedule for her and she was devastated that this would be cut down. She doesn't have confidence in more and more of her therapy being in a home environment rather than a professional one.  All her therapy must be justified to the insurance company, so once again insurance is dictating what the patient receives as opposed to what the medical community and family feel.

Thank you for your continued prayers as we move forward, trusting to be lead in what's best for Catherine. We've come this far by faith and are continuing to look to the Lord for direction and complete healing.

Two weeks ago, I went to a local support group and met a woman who is president of the Brain Injury Association here in Arizona and also is in private practice. She works with Cognitive rehab and "community reentry" and has worked with brain injured patients since before Barrows ever opened. It looks to me like God has sent help right here to Flagstaff, as she has just opened an office one day a week here. Isn't the Lord wonderful? He knew before I did what we would have need of, and had her open an office so that it would already be in place for Catherine (especially since Catherine's desire is to stay at home in Flagstaff).

Last week we transferred to our new routine smoothly. On Tuesday and Thursday when Catherine didn’t go to the hospital for therapy, she slept in a little later and then went through our own schedule of using our exercise machine for 10 minutes, doing occupational therapy as well as oral motor exercises. She helped make cookies. On Wednesday the 23^rd,  after her horse therapy, she went to Phoenix with Amber, who was picking up a new car. Catherine had been worried about some things this week and the next day, after having been stressed out, she said she got a  revelation and that was "not to worry". Regardless of how things work out,  it would be just fine. Considering some of the obstacles that continually present themselves, I’m glad to see her bounce back.

This week has been pretty routine. Catherine has a cold and wants to just cancel therapy. This is the first time she's had a bug of any kind since she had her accident. Next week she is to get a local anesthesia shot in the muscle of her left arm to see if they can get more extention out of it. We are still progressing little by little. Thanks again for your prayers.