Shamma lamma Ha-ha-ha! ... or LOL for you youngsters.

My Mom and Dad told me that Andie was speaking more and more during their visit today so I decided to go right to Good Shepherd to see for myself and to ask her stuff- like... how much she remembers from the month of February... her stay at LVHC and how much she realizes from her current situation.

When I got there she wasn't in her room but out by the desk with her one-to -one aid.... and not too happy. She was mentioning going home ... getting out of there... and going outside. I told her (and have before ) that once she follows the directions of the therapists and "plays their game" she'll be allowed to get out of there. She calmed a bit and I convinced her to go look out the dining area window. Once we got there I realized that she is the poster child right now for aphasia. We were advised early on based on the area of the brain that the aneurysm was in that this was a distinct possiblilty.

Aphasia is an acquired condition where the person has normal intellegence and can understand what's going on but cannot get the words together to express themselves. As we sat there she'd start a sentence in a normal sounding way but end up with gibberish. I ended up just completing her sentences with goofy stuff like Shamma Lamma ... ding dong and we rolled with laughter and it was like we had just shared a joke but she was the only one who really got the punch line.

Thankfully she was in good humor when I tried this... cause if she's not - glares and middle fingers and not very nice words were there.
Needless to say I've got lots of questions for the speech therapist tomorrow about how to best help Andie get her ideas out.

During the afternoon there were times I just sat and wrote in my note book what she was saying and I quote:
GET OFF MY...
I'M SO SICK OF ...
I think if we can get some TV
OUTTA SAME HOME...
I asked her if she noticed pictures I'd left there of Dima and Josh and she said " I've seen them 97 times"
A guy walked by out in the hallway and she said again and again after he went by " he's cute, he's cute".
The rest of the day was interspersed with "I don't know" and I have no idea".

Then she was trying to unbuckle her wheel chair seat belt - something she hadn't done before - she was able to lengthen it but now gets the way to undo it - I was the only one with her and not so sure that she wouldn't try to get up so I made her put it back on and tried to turn it around to face her - she could still undo it so she was not happy with me that I was telling her NO and some faces were made and some choice thoughts started with me knowing their intent but her still not able to get it all out.

Her right side is moving more which I think makes the possibility of her trying to get up all the greater but she still needs to slow down and save her energy for the times that she's in therapy and being helped by the professionals just in case.

Her worst times that I saw were as I came in and after I said I had to go - the nurse was talking about getting her into the shower and she was all set right then - but disappointed that she had to wait . When I said I'd be going she was moody again and just unhappy.

At times today we just sat there and she kind of gave me a smile and we did that just before I left and the best words I heard all day came from her lips when she said "I love you" as I got ready to go.