Hi Everyone,

Corey’s graduation was amazing on many levels. To watch her walk in to the stadium, watch her walk on stage, watch the faculty and administrators step forward to shake her hand and then to witness the senior class and every spectator applaud her accomplishment was overwhelming! I didn’t have to worry about being the only one shedding tears of pride and joy…there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

My favorite line of the night…after Corey walked back to her wheelchair she was greeted by many excited teachers, friends and family. After she greeted everyone she turned to me and asked
C – why are all these people coming up to me?
M – this is a pretty big deal!
C – why? doesn’t everyone graduate high school?

We will get pictures and her video up on YouTube as soon as we can get it off the video camera (that’s Caitlin’s project for this week)

Thursday was back to Bryn Mawr for PT. Friday we visited with family and prepared for Saturday’s bridal shower for Jackie and JohnPaul. After family left on Sunday, Corey and I headed to their new house to clean and prep for their move in date. Corey was a big help in the kitchen…but not with cooking, just yet. I scrubbed the top cabinets and she was in charge of the lower set. Together we made Jackie and JohnPaul’s kitchen look like new.

On to a new week…
Today was botox day. It was an interesting process. Corey’s left ankle and foot are worse then the Doctor expected. After a physical exam of her left arm and leg, he suggested we use the majority of the botox in her ankle/foot and only shoot her forearm not her shoulder. We can work through the tone in her shoulder with longer warm ups but her ankle and foot are locking up and we need to focus on them.

Thank goodness Corey has a high tolerance for pain and she couldn’t see the needle the Doctor was using. I’m not sure I would be as brave.

The doctor uses a combination of ultrasound and echo-sound to find the perfect spot. Once the doctor finds the muscle he wants to target, he inserts the needle. Using the echo-sound machine when the needle hits the muscle at the ‘right spot’, it sounds like a helicopter muffled over a radio wave.

This is not a fast process; it took 90 minutes! Corey must lie completely still. She received 2 shots in the front of the left calf that will target the downward curl of her toes and the big toe flexing up. We helped her roll to her belly to shoot 4 targeted areas in the back of the calf that will hopefully release her ankle tone for greater range of motion. After the leg/foot were taken care of, it was time for the forearm and bicep just above the elbow. The 2 arm shots will target the muscles that are preventing Corey from rolling her hand/forearm palm up. It is a functional movement that will not only help her cook but dress herself and take care of her personal needs.

The medicine will take about a week to activate, a month to peak and will last a total of 3 months. During this time, it is up to us, Natalie and Anne to maximize the affects of the botox with therapy. We are hoping for greater range of motion and flexiblity.

A funny side note; when the Doctor asked Corey how she was doing, she replied, “I think I’ve had worse things done to me, so this is easy”!

Keep your fingers crossed, xoxo

After Graduation I hope we keep failing – by Corey Marie Beattie

Why would I suggest that we keep failing? Because we usually don’t get things right the first time. Thomas Edison said he didn’t fail inventing the light bulb, he learned 10,000 ways it didn’t work. If one try doesn’t work, or a hundred or a thousand, we haven’t failed. We just haven’t found the way that does work. The way you handle failure is all in the way you look at it.

Today we graduate from high school but we still have a long life to live and what is life without failures?

Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, said: “Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose…not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember,”

It’s the same thing after getting a brain injury. I am relearning everything which I used to take for granted. Life lessons are harder than what you learn in school; however, you can never give up and never give in. What about all of you? How do you think about failing? Does it discourage you or push you to learn how to overcome your personal challenge?

I don’t consider myself a failure, I am just a human being learning some lessons from my challenge. I hope that we all keep failing so we can learn great things and hopefully inspire others to keep going when they think they’ve failed.

Congratulations Class of 2014

Hi Everyone,

Day 1 of our busy week. Corey and I delivered her graduation tickets to her closest friends today. She is getting very excited. We found a beautiful dress at Macy’s (it’s not purple, but her next best color…blue; to match her eyes).

We worked with Natalie and Anne today. Unfortunately, Natalie can’t get off work to come to the graduation. We would not be celebrating Corey’s graduation without the help of this woman. Like Jen, our HS Physical Therapist, Natalie has been working with Corey since the beginning. These two woman have helped to make this day possible for our family! I’m ecstactic that Jen will be with Corey to receive her diploma.

Anne, our first OT as inpatient 3.5 years ago, is working with Corey again. She is in awe and thrilled to be back on her case. Next week Corey gets her 1st botox shot in her left arm and left leg/foot. She will not have therapy sessions the first week the shots are given but both Anne and Natalie are anxiously awaiting week two to work with Corey. The shots should eliviate the tone enabling greater range of motion and hopefully accelerate the therapy progress for the left side.

Time to put an X on the calendar…another day down, xoxo

Hi Everyone,

Today was a special day. We met our original school OT Brittany, and our current OT Cari, at the candy store for our last official day before graduation.

Brittany began working with Corey when we moved home in June of 2011. She left us last year because she was expecting her own little girl.

It was very special to close Corey’s school year with these two amazing ladies. It’s true they both worked with Corey but they have taught me invaluable strategies, techniques and introduced me to tools that have helped us supplement their lessons and goals for her. It has been an honor, blessing and incredible gift to work with them for the last 3 years.

As many of know, Corey used to work at the Candy Store. We periodically stop in to say hello to Sue and the candy girls. We think it’s a riot that Sue still has Corey’s name on the schedule waiting for her to come back to her job. Well, that day is getting closer and closer.

Today, instead of using the wheelchair, Corey walked across the parking lot, up the ramp and into the store (check out the gallery). Molly, Maggie and Ashley were shocked to see her walk in! Unfortunately, Sue was at the Delaware store and missed it. This was the first time Corey walked into the candy store since October 1, 2010, the night before the accident. I can’t wait for the day she can walk in, put on an apron and start dipping pretzels again…on her own…xoxo

PS – she ordered Birthday Cake ice cream with rainbow sprinkles to celebrate her last OT day!

Hi Everyone,

Tonights post is much more personal then I would normally write but I’m very excited to share Corey’s accomplishment.

As you know, we have been working with Corey on personal independence. She can’t wait to “get rid of our helpers”. We need our nurses not only for their clinical expertise but for Corey’s ADL’s (activities of daily living). This includes assistance to walk, escorting her to the bathroom, assisting with dressing/undressing, assisting with rolling over, sitting up and standing up from her bed. We have graduated to ‘standing by’ when she’s walking with her walker, but still assist with some reaching and/or stabilizing bowls, plates etc if she’s cooking or eating.

It has been increasingly more difficult to manage Corey’s frustration of relying on another person to assist with such basic needs. Not only is it an issue of dignity but her memory loss, as to why she needs assistance at all, also contributes to her anger.

At the end of every day we take the chair lift to the top of the stairs. She spins the seat, unbuckles the belt, stands with assistance and takes a step up to the landing at the threshold of her room. Her bed is situated on the far wall facing us. There is a bedside commode to the left. Next to the commode, an armoire that is utilized as a storage closet for her bedding and bathroom accessories. In the right section; a trash can, box of gloves, pads, moist toilettes, hand sanitizer, deodorant, lysol wipes and air freshener. In the section to the left; pajama tops, bottoms, bath mats for under the commode, protective bed pads and sheets.

We walk from the threshold of the landing straight back to the commode. Corey sits, we assist her to undress, we give her bedtime medicine, help her to put on her pajama’s then assist her with her personal hygiene. We help her stand, take a few steps to transfer to the bed, sit her on the bed side, help her lie down, swing her legs up, then roll her to her side to get tucked in for the night.

Normally I do not leave her side when she is in her room. I have a “BabyCam” monitor set up in her room. If I have to run down the hall to my room I take the hand help receiver to ‘watch’ her (God forbid rule). Tonight, I had to step out to rinse out a pad.

As I was tending to the hand washing, I kept my eye on Corey through the monitor. I watched her reach into the left side of the armoire, reach for a pajama top, examine the shirt to find the front/back, lay it across her lap with her right hand, separate the front/back, lift it over her head, push her right arm through the shirt sleeve, find the left shirt sleeve, open it with her right hand…reach through the opening to grab her left hand and then shimmy the left sleeve onto her forearm. She stopped at the elbow unsure how to proceed. I watched patiently. She used her right arm to pull the front and back of the shirt down her torso. Her left shoulder and elbow was stuck. She hollered for help.

I entered her room and sat on the edge of the bed.
M – what’s up
C – I’m stuck, I don’t think I can do this
M – yes you can, you’re 3/4 there…push the left sleeve fabric past your elbow.
C – (it took a few minutes to manipulate but she pushed through)
M – now reach up with your right hand to fix the fabric stuck on your left shoulder and pull it down and push it back to position it.
C – (she fussed with the shoulder fabric, pushing back, pulling down until she was satisfied)
M – that was the first time you put your shirt on yourself!
C – (annoyed) not really by myself mom; you had to tell me what to do…
M – you’re killin’ me Cor!

Miss Independence…it doesn’t count if I don’t do it by myself…

I can’t imagine Corey’s level of frustration. As her caregiver, I have been feeling like her left shirt sleeve…stuck…I know I can help her, change the way I present it, try a new direction, rephrase, retry, find something that will help make a connection, but how? Every day the same routine is filled with trials; some successes but more failed attempts until that one time she nails it and breaks through.

Tonight was a break through! She nailed it…she achieved another BIG milestone towards personal independence. Tomorrow we do it again, xoxo

Hi Everyone,

In the last few weeks I think it’s more then a coincidence that I keep seeing inspirational quotes referencing persistence to overcome adversity. Quotes such as; “when the going gets tough the tough keep going”; “when going through hell, just keep going”; “when you feel like giving up remember why you started”; and my personal favorite; ”I know when one door closes another one opens but it’s hell in the hallways”!

In addition to Corey’s personal struggles regulating her emotional responses, I’ve been battling Insurance for the approval for the Botox shots and extended therapy to capitalize on the shots. I’m happy to say, we received approval for 4 shots and we will continue with the current 8 weeks of PT with the likelihood of getting an additional 12 weeks. We are also fortunate to have 12 weeks of OT that were not previously used, yet approved. This should take us through the summer…as long as the usual functional improvement can be documented.

Corey’s new OT had an evaluation session with her today. Anne is actually not new to our case; she was her inpatient therapist 3 years ago. Anne was amazed to see the progress she’s made since her discharge. She is so excited to work with Corey primarily because she CAN work with her. She reminded Corey that the last time she worked with her; she had to hold her head up because she had no neck control. She had to move each limb for her because she had no control of any of her body parts. She wasn’t capable of moving her eyes and could not speak or respond with a thumb up/down to gauge her status.

On a personal note, I have been trying to find some time to step away from the chaos. My girlfriend Suzanne kidnapped me for the day to go to Cape May, NJ. We had 45 minutes to sit on the beach and listen to the waves. Although it was only 45 minutes it felt like a weekend away! Amazing how the beach can provide such serenity. The girls and I also had a day at Longwood Gardens for a jazz festival. It was a great day; perfect weather, outstanding surroundings and excellent music. I’m hoping day excursions will become a regular part of our “mental health” therapy!

Hi everyone its corey
I am still here, don’t worry even if its been awhile; same place that I have been my whole life.

Even though we are pretty much living a new normal I just have to constantly remind myself that this is our normal. I think that our new normal is full of changes just like any ones quoted normal life.

My ‘normal’ is exercising every day but it’s also my new normal that when I am tired or angry I have to look at the big picture. Even though I don’t know how I’m getting better, my family says I am, so I have to keep trying to see it.

Staying motivated to keep trying to be positive is a way to get better, and fingers crossed, that technique will help me to stay positive, xoxo