Hi Everyone,

The last two days have been both busy and a bit rough. We continue to work through emotional and behavioral issues as a result of Corey’s short term memory loss, stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. Strategies change every hour to navigate our day.

Seeking inspiration in order to clear my mind and refocus on a positive thought has been a life changing strategy albeit challenging on the days I’d prefer to crawl into bed to end the day as quickly as possible!

Tonight’s inspiration came from Corey. I was uploading a new video but took time to rewatch almost all the videos we’ve posted over the last 3 years. Our daily schedule tends to lead us with blinders on. Watching each video from “Corey’s Story” by Jon Ristaino to our newest video recorded tonight, gives me the inspiration and gratitude I needed to reaffirm our motto; Never Give Up and Never Give In. It’s a Matter of Time!

I must admit, the number of people following Corey’s story continues to surprise me; especially as I notice new members joining weekly. I keep waiting for everyone to get bored or lose interest but after watching Corey’s video’s I understand now why we all are following this REAL LIFE reality show with bated breath to see what this amazing young woman will do or say next!

So to satiate our Corey Fix, tonight’s inspiration is her newest video playing a cognitive game called Wedgit. Corey’s teacher Cari, loaned it to us to develop perception, color recognition, strategy and problem solving as well as manipulative play which Corey chose to emphasize with her left hand!

Corey, thank you for being my daily inspiration xoxo

Corey Beattie Color Stack

Hi everyone,

Corey’s leg is still sore and a little swollen. She had a short session with Jen today but is still hurting tonight. Tomorrow I will ask Natalie to give her an exam and offer any suggestions to help her over the next few days.

Speaking of suggestions; our carepages are filled with the physical strides Corey is making. My recent quest is to focus my research on the cognitive, emotional and behavioral treatments/strategies that might help us cope with Corey’s current anxiety levels.

Research is very difficult to find as most survivors progress has limited documentation past the first two years of recovery. The information most valuable comes from the families I work with. Fortunately, I’ve been networking with many survivors and their families from across the country.

A young woman recently shared her story with me. She was in an accident 9 years ago with similar injuries as Corey. Like Corey, one day she could identify letters and numbers but still could not structure or decode a sentence. One random day in her 4th year she happened upon a book she remembered, picked it up and began to read.

The mother of a young man injured 6 years ago confided that he has recently shown more cognitive growth with his short term memory loss in the last 3 months then he’s shown since the onset of his injury. In fact, he can now beat anyone that challenges him to any memory card game. They began his memory exercises with music!

A man 36 years old has been recovering in a nursing home for the last 17 years. He has severe anger issues causing significant behavioral outbursts due to disorientation from his memory loss. Coincidentally, his 8th grade teacher is now a resident of the same long term care facility. They were reintroduced and the man reconnected the memory of his relationship with his teacher. His parents report that although he is “stuck” in 1991 he is recalling family facts and experiences that appear to be bridging to some current events.

Family strategies to help their loved ones are varied and very creative. TBI affects the family and friends as profoundly as it does the survivor. Without family and friends the survivor has no chance of recovery and the families become fractured as a result. The key and consistent message is repetition, reassurance and respite. The respite is for the family members. Stress and fatigue is the leading cause of set backs; not for the survivors but for their families stamina.

I am working with Corey to focus on responding, not reacting to her anxiety. She has the choice, as do I, to think of how we can talk through our anxiety. This is easier said then done during some outbursts but focusing on the negative or reacting to the stress will never extinguish the rage.

Repetition, Reassurance, Responding with love and a calm positive tone will present the opportunity to diffuse the outburst and help bridge future appropriate responses…Since I said this out loud and wrote it publicly it’s supposed to work now right? As Dori from Finding Nemo says, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…..

Keep those prayers coming friends, xoxo

Hi Everyone,

We had to throttle back a bit today. Yesterday’s session at Bryn Mawr pushed Corey just a bit too far. She and Natalie not only practiced standing for 8 minutes but she also walked 700′, practiced a timed sit/stand, a timed 20′ walk, a timed staircase run up/down and some matte work!

Last night we elevated her left leg and this morning began the day with a good massage before we went for our pool session.

I knew Corey was sore when I asked her if she wanted to walk into the pool or take her chair. She opted for the wheelchair. Fortunately Paul joined us today. He gave her left leg a thorough exam. He gave us the analogy of a runner training for a marathon. Every few weeks they push themselves to double their training run. The following day their muscles let them know they’ve been stretched. It’s a good practice but it’s also the bodies way of saying, ‘ok, you pushed me now I’m pushing back’.

The water is 92 degrees (the only reason I get in with Corey, especially when it was 31 outside!) We decided to take it easy and work with Corey on her back; no weight baring. She used the motorized chair to get in/out of the pool and we worked on knee pull ups, water angels, bicycle peddling, scissor kicks and ab rotations. Paul was working with another patient in the pool when he turned to us as we were making waves and laughed as he asked, “I thought you two were taking it easy today”! He should know us by now…that IS taking it easy!

Tonight Corey relaxed with some ice on her leg and frequent massages to the foot, ankle and calf. Hopefully tomorrow she will be less sore.

One thing is for sure, the water and a full day’s exercise knocks her out. She was asleep within minutes tonight. Let’s hope she stays asleep for more then a few hours!
Happy dreams honey, xoxo

hi everyone its corey and marie,

Today’s TBI fact you have to relearn what emotions are and how to handle them.

I keep Corey’s IPad next to her with the notes page open. Each tantrum we wait stating we will talk to her when she’s finished “expressing” herself. If she can’t find the words to verbally tell us what is troubling her, I ask her to write it out. This is helping her communicate…if only she could remember what she wrote…but one hurdle at a time I guess!

It has not been an easy learning curve for any of us. You can imagine the level of stress and heartache to listen to her words, feel the lashes from her temper and watch her anxiety level knowing there is nothing we can do but listen and wait for it to pass. How we wish we could “fix it”, take it away or speed up the recovery time. Where is that MAGIC 8 Ball from my childhood? Until my time machine is built, I will keep looking for new strategies to make it through each outburst. Keep those prayers coming please!!! xoxo

From Corey;
apparently i’m relearning these things from having a brain injury. i get happy and sad and baffled and feel belittled all at the same time but i have to remember that they are just feelings, they are not what is really going on in the world. just my world.

i get upset a lot of the time but mostly because there are people all around me just going about their every day life but at the same time, even though its hard, i have to remember that not every person thinks like me. i feel trapped and wonder when i am going to live my own life.

while i might have a brain injury its certanly not my whole life. the hardest part of my day is trying to remember that. everyone tells me it has helped to make me a stronger woman. i guess by now there is nothing that can stand in my way. thank you for staying in contact with me because i know you are there to watch what i am doing and that makes me feel strong so i never feel alone.