Hi Everyone,
Today was a really tough day! I had appointments this morning and missed Speech and PT with Corey. When I returned home, Sherice was very upset for Corey because she was so upset through both sessions. She was having terrible fits. They were so severe she was banging her head repeatedly with the palm of her hand.
Corey and I had a long talk about it. She is extremely frustrated. She wrote, “My mouth is EW”, “burning”, “I want to eat”. I asked her about PT. ‘What was the problem’? She wrote; “Me”, “I can’t move”.
I reminded her of where she was. It was not sinking in. I pulled up the videos from a year ago and Corey watched intently. As the therapists in the video were giving their directives, Corey was responding to them live; she was mesmerized. When we finished the video I asked her what she thought. She looked at me and said, “I can’t believe it”. We talked about never giving up. We talked about how the work she does every day for the last 16 months has helped her surpass the capabilities of what she could not do 12 months ago. She settled down, relaxed and fell asleep for about an hour.
Have you seen the movie 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler? Today was 50 First Days…starring Corey Beattie. When Corey woke from her afternoon nap, she was upset again. She reiterated the same frustrations. I asked her if she remembered the video we looked at and she had no memory of it. (I’m seriously thinking of showing her this video every day, just like the movie, so she can see her own progress).
Corey’s afternoon session with her teacher went fairly well. She was exhausted after working her school session when Alice, OT, arrived. Alice asked Corey if she wanted to play or exercise. Corey said play! (Alice makes work seem like playing) They worked on the Ipad. Both sessions required an hour of intense thinking and recall. This evening she was expressing frustration yet again. Corey could not remember the video we watched three times so I decided to get creative. We set up small bean bags on her over-bed table and I filmed her as she mimicked the original video we shot a year ago. Once that was uploaded, we watched both the videos again ~ Past and Present. Ironically, the video from a year ago was shot on 2/19/11 so it truly is an accurate representation of a full year’s progress.
I am attaching a “warning” label for the following. I’ve uploaded the two videos to Corey’s YouTube page. The first video is Corey Beattie February 2011 Four months in. For those of you who know Corey, this video may be very upsetting. For those of you who don’t know her it will most likely be viewed from a clinical perspective.
After watching the first video the second video filmed tonight will amaze ALL of you! It is the perfect example of why intense rehabilitation is critical for the first several years after a patient is injured. Corey is receiving 5 days a week PT, 4 days a week ST and OT and 3 days of Education/Cognitive therapy. She would not be where she is today without the dedicated therapists and the level of acute therapy that we continue to fight for!
Corey enjoyed watching herself. When I told her how proud I was of her she answered, “thank you”, “me too”! I asked her, “Now that you’ve watched the videos, what do you think”? She said, “We’re good”! Yes we are honey. “Are you going to give up and stop working”? She confidently stated, “I won’t”…I won’t either Corey! We’re in this together…xoxo
Corey Beattie February 2011 Four months in…
Corey Beattie February 2012 Sixteen months in…