Mom's Update

Courtney had 2 sessions of PT today during which she worked on standing. Each time she stood for 10 seconds - it may not sound like long but when you haven't stood for 8 weeks it's a long time and alot of hard work!

Courtney is sitting forward using her core muscles very well and can reach for things on the tray table in front of her. She was watching Annie earlier tonight and was clearly getting tired. She reached out toward the portable DVD so I pulled her hand back. She reach out again and shut the DVD cover and looked at me as if to say "I'm done!" I got the point.

Courtney is becoming better at using the spoon to feed herself each day. She's doing more of the daily care and has a greater awareness of what she wants and what needs to be done.

Most exciting for me today was when Courtney rolled on her stomach, lifted herself onto her elbows and got herself almost all the way to a sitting position! Amazing but apparently not the proper way to sit in bed so PT is working on showing Courtney the safe way to do things.

As a Mom who gets excited I sometimes forget that it's not a good thing for her to be kneeling up in bed, grabbing a full cup of ice or cleverly pulling the seatbelt off in the wheelchair and leaning forward to make a quick escape! I'm always so impressed and excited by these things I don't think of safety - this is when I let the experts do their thing and become the cheerleader. I'll often yell "yes Courtney that's terrific."

Courtney's visitors today kept her busy as well. Among them was Sarah (SJ) a friend from LaSalle. Courtney quickly started checking out Sarah's pocketbook - very cute yellow bag. Then Craig said "oooh and look at Sarah's shoes." Courtney leaned forward in the wheel chair and looked right down at the shoes then back up at Sarah's face as if to say 'nice shoes'! It never fails to amaze us that she has such great object recognition.

Another impressive recent development is that Courtney is doing what's called 'sequencing'. She understands that things need to happen in certain order. For instance, when working with Melane and Kathleen, Courtney tired of following their commands. She held the brush brought her arm up in the air and threw it straight at Kathleen's head! Normally an employee would be upset about something like this - but this is the strange world of rehab - and so Kathleen and Melane were so excited that Courtney was 'sequencing'!

Courtney has also learned that while in the wheel chair she can grab at the hand railings and move herself! She is now spreading her blanket out to cover herself using both hands and will move items from one hand to the next to get the best grip.

All of this is amazing progress since the pump was put in just 3 days ago. Many of us have noticed that Courtney is attempting to say 'yes' and 'no'. The staff has noticed this a number of times and encourages Courtney to try to speak. I believe that once the trach is out she will make many more attempts.

Today is 8 weeks from the date of the accident and Courtney's progress has been miraculous. We are so grateful for all the support and prayers we have been given and of course mostly for God's grace in saving Courtney and giving us these miracles.

Each day in the hospital we are reminded that there are many people suffering. Craig's co-worker has 2 sons who were involved in a serious accident years ago. One of the sons lives with a life long disability, the other has recovered. Just the other day their third son, only 27 years old died following an asthma attack.

After these past 8 weeks we have some understanding of the immense pain these parents are feeling but will never truly understand their loss. We pray that they are surrounded by loving family and friends and that God will give them the strength to bear this pain. Each day we pray for Courtney's caregivers and also for the many others who sit by the bed of a loved one waiting in hope for a miracle or watching in faith for their loved one's passing to eternal life. May God give all of us strength to continue on our journeys.