Mom had another alert day. I visited with her early this morning and she opened her eyes for me for a minute and 20 secs. She also tried to open them a lot and then also had them open a sliver as well on and off. I did her Physical Therapy and she said, "Ow" several times when I was moving her ring and middle fingers on her left hand which now has the edema again. She liked the smell of dad's aftershave, the pumpkin candle and the vanilla today. Her response to smell is funny because she supposedly can't smell while she is on the vent...but she certainly appears to be sniffing at times. Perhaps she is actually smelling or she is just following my command to smell---either way, this is a good thing. Once you start her therapy, she begins to move around a lot and to become more alert. Dad and Lenny were with her this afternoon and did her physical therapy again. Con (Anthony's wife), Samantha (my niece) and dad returned to her again tonight (they did physical therapy, music on the IPOD, and touch items). Sam said she moved around a lot but was tired.
Sometimes, it's hard to know what, exactly, to do with mom. I mean, Claudia and I are special education teachers, so we go with a developmental view on learning. This means that you take any person, and don't particularly pay attention to much else than where that person is now, today, this moment...you look at what the person can and cannot do in relation to a developmental age as opposed to a chronological one. Once you find that person's developmental age (where the person is functioning now---example: an actual 20 year old who functions at a typical 3 year old level, or a 12 year old who functions at a 5 year old level...or whatever--and you pay attention to the age that indicates where the person is functioning now. You start there, at that functioning age and move forward in an effort to bridge the gap between how old the person actually is (chronological age) and where that person is functioning currently (developmental age). Based on this information, mom is sort of at an infant stimulation level...anything you would do with a typical infant, you do with mom now. Though, I believe that she understands the language we speak to her better than at an infant's level. So if anyone knows of anybody who can offer professional insight on therapies, please feel free to pass this blog along to others so that we can receive the information we need.
One of mom's friends from the James Street Players Community Theater group, Nancy, posted the blog sight (http://dottysupdates-kgranelli.blogspot.com) on her facebook account and she received this message and passed it on to Claudia and me. It encouraged me alot:
"Nancy, I just had a conversation with James Ciaravino (I'm sure you know he's a psychologist) a couple of weeks ago. We talked about TBI and granted I do not have it to the degree that Dottie does. He told me that the medical world is learning so much on this topic and their conclusion is that the brain is such an amazing organ that with the correct PT, it will find a way to compensate for the damaged areas. In other words, the good areas will take over for the damaged areas. If there is some way you can get this info to the Gilmans, I would appreciate it. I am exploring this myself."
Any professional or personal insights are very much welcomed. Thanks and keep praying....
"The human mind plans the way but the Lord directs the steps." Proverbs 16:9
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