"This was hell!"

This morning I drove up to Whitehall to take Andie to out-patient rehab, am back in Chester county now; we had a very nice day together. I called to let her know I was almost there as I got close and she asked if we could stop in at the salon where she usually gets her hair done to schedule an appointment. We had time to spare so we went over and one of the girls there also had Dr. Li as her neurosurgeon - more and more we meet people who think this guy is great. Andie really lucked out that he happened to be the one on call while she was in her hour of need. She met him - for the first time that she remembers... this past Monday during a post - op appointment. Today she was trying to describe meeting him and for lack of words she uses a lot of gestures so for him indicated bowing down!!
We made our way to the Good Shepherd Brain Trauma unit and even though it was lunch time we got to see some of her therapists and her old room mate who is still there recovering from a stroke. First we saw the case worker who was a huge help through the days spent there and with getting things set up for her to go to our parents' house while still getting the outpatient therapy. The physical therapists came to see Andie in the dining room where her room mate was eating and then the nurse who she most wanted to see was in her old room with a patient and we waited for her to finish so we could talk to her. The staff seemed happy to see that she's doing so well while Andie tried to describe how she looks over at their windows while she's in the out patient building.
While Andie did her OT today she wanted me to feel free to go back to a store I talked about on our way so I did - she likes a certain hair care smoothing balm that I'm on a quest for now - and so I missed most of OT. Once I got there she was going into Speech Therapy and laughingly telling the therapist "This was hell" - about having to do her homework. She's still overcoming the aphasia and it makes it tough for her to get her thoughts together. The assignment was to complete sentences like "I wish..." or to name parts of a car or tools and things like that. Well, I didn't realize it but the earlier therapists got me in the habit of giving her word choices which makes the thought process easier but if the question is open ended she's still got the thoughts in her mind but can't really get them sorted and get them out of her mouth.
Even names... she said today that she just calls everyone Lyn - works for me... but she's still got a lot to overcome communication - wise. If you see her out and about - the key right now is to just be patient and listen and watch the gestures while thinking about context. I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what she means; she does look to me like I'm her translator when I'm with her and as much as I'd like to I don't always know what she wants to say so then she gets frustrated and there are also times that I do know what she's getting at and I just let her take a minute and try to get the thoughts together. The point of the therapies is to get her brain to re-wire itself around the problem area.
After Speech she had PT and seems motivated to to well there. She's looking forward to getting rid of her walker but I think it might be a good idea to use it out in public. If someone bumps into her in a store while she doesn't have the walker to hold onto could be a bad situation. Plus, if she has the walker people will realize why she's moving slowly and might be inclined to give her more space.
Since I'm not up in Allentown so often and to not fill everyone's in-boxes I'm doing the updates less frequently now. Andie's also kind of in a holding pattern now while she's doing the current therapies. If any of you want to contribute to this blog send me an email with your okay to make the info public and I can cut and paste to give you an entry as a guest - blogger.

For the Friday's crew: Andie was really touched by your thoughtfulness - I've been reminded again and again what great family and friends we have through all of this.

Thanks to all of you for your support.