Saturday Update at 11:15 am

I will try and sum up the last two days. We are sorry that we weren't able to post an update, yet. It seems like we have been in a whirlwind since we got to Siskin. Thursday was a very hard day for Heather. The trip down was exciting, but very overwhelming.

Just when she had built up trust and made relationships with her care givers in Nashville, we brought her to a new facility, with new nurses, therapists, etc. It was definitely the right decision, and the right timing, but a little overwhelming because it is a different place, with different people.

Once we met with the administration about Heather's needs and how everyone can work together to accommodate her, things went wonderful on Friday. Heather was more herself yesterday than we have seen, the last couple of days. She still has a lot of fear because she is having to process so much information. The therapists were able to get her to accomplish a lot of tasks that she hasn't been able to perform quite yet. They took her to a room beside the gym to give her some privacy and this helped her a lot. Sometimes loud noises and too many people in an area will distract her. They gave her a power chair here and this helps as well. Since they want them to stay up as much as possible throughout the day, a regular wheelchair does not have a high back which would allow her to hold her head back and take a power nap if needed. The power chair has a high back and reclines making it much easier to rest in between therapies.

Since we are home, she has had a lot of visitors again, and this has been very, very good for her. It excites her each time someone comes to see her. Today, she only has Occupational and Physical Therapy, and she is real happy that it is only two sessions of therapy. Doing therapy is hard work and each session completely drains her. We hope to video her again this afternoon, so check back later in the evening...