The highlight from yesterday was Mom's field trip to the Mill City Museum
Prior to the outing, yesterday morning was filled with an hour and a half of speech and an hour of OT. Needless to say once she got back to her room from the field trip she took a good nap before dinner. Unfortunately, she didn't eat her dinner, but she did have a banana. Her Aunt Mary and Cousin Anne stopped by to see her and we had a nice chat that ended with Skype call from Jess! The rest of the night was spent watching American Idol.
Today, our day started extra early. Mom had OT at 730am, and Dad and I swung into Caribou on our way down and picked up a cooler for Mom. We got there just in time to meet the OT in the hallway walking to her room. Mom said "ohhh!" as I showed her the treat! After a few sips, Mom did great with her shower. She just needed minimal cueing throughout the process. We then had a nice break which gave us time to do her hair and for her to eat breakfast. We had a good laugh after I did her hair because it turned out a little ‘poofier’ than she typically likes it :-). One of these days I'll get it.
At 10am she had an hour long speech session. It has been absolutely amazing to watch her progress. In doing a reading exercise (there was 1 picture and 3 words, one of which described the picture, and she has to pick the right word) she scored 80%, 90%, and 90% on her three different tests. She also did great saying more words! After speech she had OT, with Michelle, where she wrapped a present (including cutting the paper down to the right size and topping it with a bow) and worked on number recognition. Her ability to recognize numbers was outstanding; Michelle went and grabbed a phone once she realized how well she was doing. She next had Mom look at a phone number and practice dialing the numbers, she did perfect! Her afternoon continued to be busy. I guess that is no surprise being that it is her last day at brain bootcamp.
Since Mom did so well with numbers in her morning OT session, Michelle had her work on her letter recognition on her computer! She got to use HER computer, and she worked on typing "Lynn Besch" 5 times and although it was difficult and a little frustrating she did it! We then had the great surprise visit by my Aunt Ericka, she showed up with diet tonic and lime (her fav) for my mom as a celebration of her last night at inpatient rehab! She had perfect timing because we were just heading to Mom's PT session. Mom looked at her and said "come”, so Ericka came along to PT and speech! Mom was worked hard in PT! She walked for a total of 15 min while singing and also playing catch with me! She finished up her inpatient therapy with 30min of speech. Ericka and I exchanged smiles as Mom did an awesome job reading and saying more words!
Well that wraps up our day today. We are sitting watching Oprah, our favorite afternoon activity, and I love sitting here hearing Mom's laugh... Other than sitting on a hospital bed, it feels pretty normal! We are all looking forward to having her at home!
Love,
Gordy, Courtney and Jessica