More on Wednesday Visit with Amy and Andy

It was a great visit on Wednesday.  I got to play with both Alison and Amy.  Neither Amy or I wanted to leave.

While we were there, Brittany the new PT person came in.  PT's objective was for Alison to sit on the edge of the bed.  Whenever Alison sees PT, she turns into a "turtle".  She stops communicating and becomes tired and does not try.  Today, with Amy and me there, there was no way Alison could do that.  We asked Alison if she wanted to get better (yes) and had been improving (yes).  We then said she had to try each time PT came in so it could happen.  After the PT person got Alison sitting up, I lay behind her in the bed to give her lower back some support.  She sat for maybe 10 minutes!  No compliants and alot of joking - as you can see.  It was great to hug her the whole time too!

I printed for Alison the Webb family picture from Hopkins.  Alison cried when she saw "her babies".  There was some confusion on matching the right name to the face (?no reading glasses).  She also saw the calendar marking off the days until Reenie came and she said "so soon!"  I showed her a cross word puzzle as she said she used to do them all the time.  Again, not sure of what she can cognitively recognize vs see without glasses.  So I read her the first clue.  For "three men in a _____" she replied "tub".  It fit!  I left it in the bedside drawer if others want to have her do a few crosswords to amuse her.

Alison is making great improvements in communicating the sudden discomforts she feels.  Sometimes it is pain "ow" and sometimes itching "itch".  When asked "where"", she is beginning to communicate head, back, etc.  Both discomforts come on suddenly and strongly but then subside.  I wonder how much is physically vs neurologically caused discomfort....  The latter is harder to resolve.