>From her mother: Another great day. Mal continues to astonish doctor, therapists, other workers with her progress. These people are awesome and this dinosaur has a new appreciation for an I-phone. Today they combined OT with music therapy. They ask Mal songs she likes. There is some boom boom song that people her age know, I don't and they put on their I-phone and play the music and get Mal to do things that I can't believe she can do. They have her standing longer. She has balance problems. They have her hitting a drum at the top and one at the bottom. It is really an exercise to strengthen her trunk muscles but they are all singing and encouraging her and she will exercise for over three minutes at a time, which is great for her. It was so awesome to see, they had me crying. I am learning things to use with my little kids when I teach next year.
Then they combined speech therapy with PT. I had to request a new speech therapist and this one is awesome. The one she had just didn't know to handle someone with traumatic brain injury. They also have a lot of stroke victims here and she may be great with them. But Mal would get so agitated and feel bad about herself, I was very unhappy. But make a request and they honor it after talking to you and finding out what the problem is. Well, this new speech therapist is awesome. She had Mal talking while she was walking (assisted). When Mal would rest between walks and was lying on the exercise be, she did cognitive tests and Mal never realized it. Mal just thought she was answering questions. This therapist knows how to do it, where the other girl was frustrated and clueless how to deal with Mal. Mal is walking well with assistance. They are teaching me how to walk with her, but I am not comfortable yet to walk with her alone, but I can help the aides. They actually walked her up and down stairs. Tonight marks one week we have been at Tirr and we are all amazed at her progress. She still gets upset because she knows her brain is not working right. We just have to keep reassuring her and try to refocus her thoughts. We have started something new. She likes to talk to people on the phone. She has been talking to Rex (the guy that was hit with her),sometimes twice a day, but we are also expanding who we call. It is helping. If we should call you and you can't talk, just tell me. She'll accept it just fine. It's just a good way to touch with people, because the schedule changes every day and other things and test, etc. happen during a day, where a visit may not work but a quick phone call boosts her spirits. She was so obsessed with her I-phone, I turned it back on. I had suspended it to save money and Steve and I don't know how to use it .But she "needed" her phone, so I figured this might be good therapy. But I told her she can't call unless I check her. Her brain doesn't have this yet. I brought it home tonight so she couldn't use it, supposedly to charge it. I have to tell you something funny she said yesterday. One thing they warn you about is they may have a complete personality change. We don't think that is happening with Mallory. Yesterday was the first time I heard her call me Mama in 4 weeks. Once, when I was explaining something to her she didn't understand, she looked at me with a straight face and "Mama, I love you but you don't know anything". I laughed. This is so Mal at 15. She tickled me. Now at 28 she does tell me I am smart about some things. They just have to grow up. She wore her glasses today. At this point, vision seems to be OK. They capped her trach tube. They are testing her oxygen level and if all goes well, they will remove the trach on Wednesday. Her 20 year old roommate is having more problems than Mal and has been there longer. She has a different type of brain injury. We are grateful for all the good things that are happening to Mallory. God has definitely been listening and helping all the medical people help her. Also, her friend Jamie that she went to American Idol with 10 years ago, made it through to the next round in Omaha today or yesterday. We are rooting for him. He sings very well. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
