Hi Everyone,

By the time we arrived tonight, Corey was back in bed and dozing in and out of sleep! We guess her big night last night and active therapy day got to her.

Good news, her trach will be capped through the night tonight! They will hook her up to a monitor to watch her heart rate, pulse rate and oxygen level. If she tolerates the cap for the next 3 nights, they will take her trach out early next week…maybe even on Monday!
This is very good news! Once the trach is removed, she will be working towards speaking and eating.

Corey is starting to receive letters from some of her friends. We read them all to her and also read the notes you all post to us. She also received some beautiful photos of her cousins tonight. She was focusing on them and taking long blinks when we talked about them. We know she misses all of you. Please keep writing letters to her. We also know that she loves to be caught up on the gossip!

One of the letters came from a dear friend in NY. She quoted Taylor Swift that we believe reflects Corey’s personality. Those of you who know her will agree.

‘To me FEARLESS is not the absence of fear, it’s not being completely unafraid. Fearless is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again. It’s Fearless to have faith that someday things will change’ – Taylor Swift

Sleep well sweetheart. We admire your strength, tenacity, courage, patience and fearless faith. Happy Dreams xoxo

Hi everyone,

Lots to post tonight!
First of all, the nurses shared with us that Corey seemed very relaxed and more responsive today. When they found out about the party in her room, they told us it’s directly connected to her enjoying her family time with her sister listening to stories and laughter. She has a similar response when JohnPaul comes to visit. Guess Caitlin and JohnPaul might have to move home (temporarily of course…)

We received the team report for this week. The team is noticing visible behavioral reactions with different therapists. Corey is starting to recognize her main therapists. Their voices and touch. She responds with relaxed hands and body tone. (Tone referring to muscle flexibility and/or contraction) If a new therapist fills in, they notice her tone increase as if to say, ‘who are you’? She tenses, clenches her hands; her heart rate goes up, as does her blood pressure. This is a good sign. She’s getting used to her surroundings. She relaxes with familiar people yet recognizes when there’s a change.

OT and PT work very closely using the same techniques. They both are still focusing on sensory stimulation along with tone. She has responded with a “startle” response to loud auditory stimulus on both sides (new) withdraws from ice gloves on both sides of her face (new) and continues to withdraw to the pain stimulus for all her extremities (same). Her eyes have been open 50-75% of the sessions.

Sarah, her OT therapist, reported that she was “excited” with Corey’s progress this week.
It’s always good when a therapist uses the word excited!
We’ve written that Corey favors her glance to her right side. She has shown some focus and tracking to midline (center). She will lose focus on the object, but now her eyes appear to be scanning to regain the object. The time it takes to move to midline and regain the focus has decreased. This means she’s finding and focusing a bit quicker! That’s good!

Tonight there was another new change. Corey held her focus and moved her right arm up, pointing her finger to her trach and neck collar. She did this repeatedly! Each time we explained what the trach and collar were, why she had them and that it is temporary. We assured her she’s healing and everyone is so proud of her! Along with raising her hand and pointing, she was moving her mouth as if she wanted to ask the questions. We encouraged her to ask and at one point she opened her mouth ever so slightly! She refuses to open her mouth except to yawn (just ask the nurses trying to brush her teeth)

We share the little things we see each day. I know that these posts are hopeful and optimistic with a touch of what is Corey’s current reality. Truthfully, with tonight’s hand motion, pointing and maintaining eye contact for over an hour, we actually felt a rush of excitement for the first time in over a month! It appeared to be purposeful!
She’s going to be waggin’ that finger and telling us all off soon enough!

Sweet dreams Corey Girl! We are so proud of you, xoxo

Hi Everyone,

Corey had a good day. She was awake and alert when we arrived tonight. She had a surprise visitor, her older sister Caitlin came to play! It was such a nice day we took Corey out to the goose pond to get some fresh air and give Caitlin a tour of the rehab.

The geese flew south so we headed north to the 2nd floor to hang out in Corey’s room. Caitlin and I then started to explore our artistic talents on Corey’s casts and Caitlin decided she should keep her day job. There is definitely a reason she is majoring in photography!

The nursing staff was delighted to meet Corey’s sister. We were the party room. All the nurses on the floor wanted to come in to visit even though they don’t have Corey as their patient! If you know Caitlin, this is no surprise. She is very entertaining!
We had a great time laughing and telling stories. Corey was alert and did not stop staring at Caitlin. It was wonderful to see because I just know Corey recognized her big sister!

We’re sure that Corey must have been exhausted but wouldn’t close those big blue eyes as long as Caitlin was there. We kissed her good night and tucked her in. Caitlin is staying with me tonight in my little dorm room. I’m sure I won’t be getting much sleep. We have a habit of staying up chatting, laughing and gossiping!

It was a good night for all of us! xoxo

Hi Everyone,

Corey was awake when I arrived today. Unfortunately, she was very uncomfortable. She had casts put on both feet today up to her knees. She has begun “foot drop”. That means that the muscles are losing flexibility and as they do, her foot will straighten instead of staying at 90 degrees with full motion.

She is currently at –15. The current casts will stay on for 2-3 days. The therapist will remove them, adjust her incrementally, and then cast her again for 5-7 days. This process will repeat until they can get her feet back to 90 degrees (which is zero). Depending on how she tolerates this, she will be wearing these casts for 3-4 months. Tomorrow I will be picking up colored sharpies and begin to decorate her casts! I knew art school would come in handy again someday!

When I speak to the therapists I’m always surprised by their comment, “It hasn’t been that long since the accident”. I’m sure they’re not looking at the same calendar that we’re living with! Some patients don’t arrive for 5-6 months or more from the ICU. By the time they do arrive, their muscle tone is fixed and extremely difficult to work with. Truthfully, they are encouraged that Corey is here “so early in the game.” This is another good sign to be grateful for.

By the time visiting hours were over, she had settled in and was resting comfortably. We love to watch her as she sleeps peacefully. Happy dreams baby girl. You’ll be up dancing soon! xoxo

Hi Everyone,

The nurses have done an amazing job educating us on Corey’s clinical needs, as well as what she will be going through emotionally. Today was evidence of their lessons. Her field trip Friday and busy therapy day yesterday took a toll on her. Thankfully they didn’t schedule any therapy today because the poor thing needed the day to rest, relax and sleep. Her behavior today is typical of too much stimulation. This is why the Rehab has such strict workout regiments balanced with their visitation rules. As the caregivers, we now see how it affects her.

Although she was tired, she had a good day. We were chatting, reading Matilda and then ended the evening with her shower. That’s all she needed and promptly conked out!

There is something new to report! Tonight as we were bathing her, she took 2 deep breaths and vocalized a sigh each time! The nurse and I surprised, looked at each other and then looked at Corey. I quickly asked, ‘you heard that right? That was a sound, right’? She confirmed it was! It’s little but VERY exciting!

Another humorous event; Earlier in the day we were sitting with Corey when all of a sudden she coughed really hard and blew the cap off her Trach! It was like a cork coming off of a champagne bottle! It literally shot across the length of the bed and crossed the room. This not only happened once, it happened three times! We were startled then cracked up wondering whom she was aiming for? And you guys think we’re not having fun here…

PS – Avon Grove friends, Cheering friends, Hidden Pond Friends, Corey’s Aunts, Uncles and cousins…Looking for pictures as soon as you can get them to us. The therapist and staff have fallen in love with Corey (no surprise) and they love the crazy stories we’re sharing about her family and friends. They use “celebrity pictures” as part of the recognition awareness techniques. They think it’s great that Corey is developing her own “Celebrity Portfolio”…it’s all of you!

Sleep well Corey. Tomorrow is another busy day.
…You have to perfect the aim of the cap rocket!
Happy dreams, xoxo

Hi Everyone,
The rehab didn’t give Corey the morning off even though she had a big field trip to go on! She had PT, OT and speech from 9am to 11:30 when the Transport Ambulance crew picked us up.

Our first trip was the orthopedic doctor. The first thing they did was x-rays of the left clavicle (shoulder) pelvis and right femur (thigh). Like any doctor’s visit, sometimes you hear good news and sometimes it’s bad news.
Good news, Corey’s pelvic fractures are healing.
Bad news, Corey is producing an “impressive” amount of new bone. Corey doesn’t do anything in a small way! Impressive is normally such a positive adjective, but in this case it’s not because she’s producing bone growth in the tissues at the hip, mid-thigh and knee. She is also starting the same in the shoulder region, which could affect the heart and lung.

This growth is normal for traumatic brain injury patients. The body says, ‘I’m broken, so I have to fix this’. It’s problematic because it can lead to paralysis of the limb until it stops growing. It’s not emergent yet. They will need to do additional surgery in 6-12 months when the growth matures, unless it accelerates. We go back in 3 weeks to measure the growth.

The next stop was the Neurologist.
Good news, Corey’s brain swelling has come down and the VP shunt looks like it’s doing its job really well! Her surgery to put the bone flap back in will be December 9th.
Bad news, they wouldn’t take out the Magic 8 ball! Her brain injury is extensive and very serious. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to say how she will recover. We are still in the “wait and see” phase. Hard to believe it’s only been 34 days!

Neurology is an amazing field. Let’s use the example of putting Corey’s bone flap in her abdomen! Who thought of that?

Each day there are new discoveries with how the brain heals and adapts to re-map and reroute the connections in ways the doctors couldn’t predict.

But it’s also a very difficult field in the medical world. There is still so much science doesn’t know about the brain.

There are so many stories of miracles. We’ve even had the privilege to meet some of the recipients of those miracles. We need to cling to those stories to strengthen our faith. That faith will help with the good news/bad news days, especially since no one will give us the Magic 8 ball! You know what would happen if we did get a chance to shake it…we’d get “TRY AGAIN LATER”!

Please keep praying for Corey and for us. We truly appreciate and need your support.
Love the Beattie’s xoxo

Hi Everyone,

Very good news to share this evening! I met with the Behavioral Neurology team, Psychology team, PT, OT and Speech today. Corey has been upgraded from a vegetative coma status to minimally conscious. The team says she’s no longer considered to be in a coma!

BMR is working with Corey in their coma/emergence program. As Corey responds to sensory stimulation she is graded. It is based on a 22pt. Coma Recovery scale. Her responses are based on reflexive and arousal responsiveness building to cognitive responses. Although she is not showing consistent responses, she’s hinting towards what they refer to as emerging awareness responses. For example, her reach towards Amelia’s photographs, her response to certain voices and she has shown emotion with tears to specific circumstances. She is currently a 3-4 for her base grade.

As I explained, the teams work with her on a rotating schedule so the same people are not observing her at the same time of day each day. This is important because her behaviors change throughout the day allowing the team members to catch the responses as they happen naturally.

The following is PT/OT’s report. Corey has her eyes open 75% of the time in each session. She has fixated orientation to the right and downward towards the right when presented with visual stimulus. NEW observation; She has begun to move her eyes to midline (focusing forward) intermittently. Her eye tracking (following a stimulus from left to right) is minimal to the left and consistent to the right.
NEW observation; she had a riting response. When she is on the bolster and they roll her from left to right, they are looking for her protective instinct to “catch” herself from the motion of rolling to one side. Her eyes did respond to the awareness of tipping and she looked towards the direction of the tipping! Lord only knows what she thought and wanted to say as she was rolling! She continues to respond to tactical stimulation by withdrawing to pain stimulus on the upper and lower extremities. She has awareness to “quiet change” If you move to one side or the other quietly, she will try to track you as if she doesn’t want to miss anything! That’s Corey!!

Speech/OT has witnessed frequent spontaneous swallowing. She is managing her saliva. She gives a munching motion when cold stimulus is placed on her mouth and swallows consistently after the stimulus is removed. This is big! Most brain trauma patients have no secretion (saliva) control and need to be taught how to swallow again. This all leads to learning how to eat independently. They will continue focusing on her oral strengthening. NEW observation; she responded to auditory stimulation. She had a startle response on her right side! She continues to tolerate the trach being capped. Another positive step towards removing it!

The emergence process can be very slow, but in their opinion, Corey is moving very quickly. She’s showing them responses that are very encouraging for the first month of a brain trauma patient. Keep in mind they are impressed but cautious. We are still on a long path of recovery but she is showing she’s progressing in the right direction!
They don’t know our girl…they haven’t seen anything yet!!!

Hi Everyone,

Miss Corey was a busy girl today. They had her going all day! She started therapy at 9:30 and didn’t finish until her shower at 4:30. She had 3 ½ hrs of Physical Therapy, 2 hrs of Occupational Therapy and an hour of Speech. They made sure to squeeze a nap for an hour too.

When we arrived to see her tonight she had her trach capped. This is a very good sign. The team will cap her for several days and then will try the cap through the night. When they do that, she will be monitored to check oxygen levels and her heart rate. If she tolerates this, she’s moving closer to getting the trach out!

We have a request of all her friends and family. We mentioned that Corey responded to Amelia’s picture; well she continues to respond to other photo’s. The collages are great but it’s too much stimulus. We need pictures of her Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, school friends and cheering friends. Please blow up your picture (single person per picture) on an 8×11. (It doesn’t have to be on “picture paper” you can use printer paper. Color would be best).
We will write your name on the back of the picture (and probably share a funny story or two) so that the therapist can help her make “connections” with the people she loves.

We truly appreciate all of you! Thank you for walking this new path with us. She’s sleeping soundly tonight! Happy Dreams Corey xoxo

Hi Everyone,

Our little pumpkin had quite a workout today. She had PT this morning and was back on the bolster. After the gym, she had Speech Therapy. The therapist brought in a Popsicle. We tried to entice Corey to open her mouth. She did click her teeth together but didn’t open her mouth. Guess we need to keep trying different flavors?

Corey’s sister Caitlin is majoring in photography at college. Caitlin took the most beautiful close up of Amelia, Corey’s cat. We used the photograph to try to get Corey to respond to a visual stimulus. The therapist had me hold the photo so she could see both of us. She began moving her arms and then I asked her if she wanted to cuddle with Amelia. She reached out for the photograph and tried to lift her shoulders off the back of the wheelchair. It was her first reach response!

We also managed to make it out twice to the goose pond today. Her big day wore her out! She’s been sleeping since 5pm today.

Corey is working so hard. We are so proud of her. She is sleeping soundly resting up for a new day. Happy dreams Corey, God bless you! xoxo