Frustration . . .

The standing table

Claire is such a trooper!!

Karlee had the last 24 hour period with her and said that she has done very well, but seems to have gained some additional awareness that her legs are just not functioning when she wants them to. Karlee said that during PT today she grew very frustrated when she was sitting up on the balancing table they have in the gym because she couldn't just get up and walk away.

Claire, really, just wants none of this hospital at this point - and rightfully so. She is so used to being free to roam and go where she pleases that this new inability just makes her mad. She never liked being told no in the past, now her legs are essentially telling her "no" and it just doesn't bode well with her.

When I arrived at the hospital today Claire was sound asleep after having been exhausted by PT and pain meds. She had some additional visitors during the day; Karlee's friend Becky and Becky's sister and kids stopped by (the kids are 12 and 15 years old). Claire also had one of her teachers from Accel School come by to say hi.

*NOTE: I point out that the kids were 12 and 15 because the hospital has, just today, instituted a rule that no child under the age of 12 is allowed beyond the front desk - No Exceptions - for fear of spreading unnecessary colds, flus and diseases. Understandable - but now even Jacob cannot visit his own sister in the hospital. :(



Our dog Sue



After Claire woke up this evening she was grumpy - and the lady who came in shortly after Claire woke to do some breathing therapy with her didn't help. She got so grumpy that after the nurse left she was directing it toward me. So I sat down on the bed and asked her if she just wanted to go home, at which point she cried and I held her until she was done. I explained to her that I want to go home too, and I want her home, and so does Mom and Jacob and Sue (our dog), but that in order to go home we need to keep working hard and following the nurses orders. She seemed to understand, took a breath and then had an entirely more positive attitude.

She also was hungry (she had slept through dinner time), so I ordered up a turkey sandwich, jello, milk and 2 oreo cookies for her, which she devoured. Poor kiddo was hungry!! She and I then watched Despicable Me and she played on the computer. Until she fell back to sleep for the night.

God bless everybody. Keep her in your prayers!

A Good Day

Claire getting her nails done

Karlee spent the first part of the 28th with Claire at the hospital, having stayed the night with her from the 27th and I arrived at the hospital to take over and let Karlee get home for some much needed rest around 5pm. Karlee said that Claire had a very good day and worked super hard in her three therapy sessions.

Claire has been talking non-stop about getting out of the hospital and how much she wants to go to Chuck E Cheese when she's finally out. That being the case, we've developed a reward system using Chuck E Cheese tokens: For all the times that Claire follows directions from the PT or OT therapist, we award her a token for her to use when she gets out. It's only day one, but it seems to be working pretty well.

Karlee also told me that Dr. Kaplan (the doctor who oversees all of the patients in rehab) stopped by today and indicated that Claire may be in rehab for a matter of only weeks, not months. This is good and bad news, in that they discharge a patient from Rehab when the patient plateaus and no longer makes progress....but....Dr. Kaplan did make sure to mention how far Claire has come since the accident. She has learned quickly how to use her arms to help shift her body weight around and to manually move her legs into position to shift herself - something unheard of in the initial days here in rehab. She also seems to be progressing where feeling and sensation are concerned, in that she is reacting to touch stimulus in different areas and has begun voluntary bladder and bowel movements. There even have been instances where she has wiggled the toes on her left foot for us on command without stimulation. Small movements, but very big milestones indeed.

Today was an especially fun day for Claire as she had a group of girls from a local church come by to pay her a visit and have a girl party (see the picture above). The girls showed up around 7 and painted Claire's fingernails, colored pictures with Claire and even sang some Justin Bieber Christmas songs. Claire was elated to have them visit and soaked in all the attention. One of the girls even brought Claire a gift - a necklace & pendant with the words "blessed" stamped into it.

Needless to say, Claire was very happy.

She also does seem to be managing her pain very well. We are off the heavy pain meds and have moved to doses of ibuprofen instead. This way we can dull the pain but not knock her on her tail when she should be awake and working on her PT.

So far so good. Thanks again for keeping up with her progress & for all the messages in her guest book!

Post-Christmas News

It was an uneventful Christmas, as far as a stay in the hospital can be, which is a good thing. Uncle Bob and Aunt Lori joined us for the day and we all had our Christmas presents to open in Claire's room here at the hospital.
Claire seems to be doing well. She still can't move her legs nor does she seem to feel any sensation when we touch them, but there have been moments where -during a needle prick to draw blood or putting a cold or hot washcloth against her skin- she seems to acknowledge the sensation of pain or temperature. Certainly more than we were expecting.

Karlee spent the last night with her and I am just taking over for the next 24 hour period, but in the transition from Karlee to me staying over Karlee said that she had asked Claire to wiggle her toes and Claire did it, albeit slightly. Karlee said to make sure it wasn't a fluke she asked Claire to do it again, which she did. Then Karlee had her do it for a nurse so there would be a witness to it all, and Claire wiggled her toes again.
So, it's progress once again. Good things.

Karlee also said they changed her surgery dressing for the first time today and she got to see the incision site. Karlee said it looked very clean and very well done, so KUDOS to the doctors and surgeons who worked on her. According to Karlee they did a great job (and Karlee knows a thing or two about stitching).

Claire has started some very minimal Physical Therapy, mostly just getting out of bed into a wheel chair and doing some cognitive and balance testing. All of the major moving around Claire has to do really wipes her out. I showed up today to trade out with Karlee but when I arrived Claire was in her wheel chair, so we all (Me, Karlee, Jacob, Claire & Uncle Bob) went to the cafeteria and had lunch together.

After we returned Claire FINALLY had a bowel movement (pretty topic, I know - but a BIG DEAL I assure you). It had been over a week since she had her last one, before the accident.

Right now she is sleeping and the nurse just came in and took her vitals.

Making Progress

Well, it took some time to get the site set up and all put together, so this update will seem pretty fast and furious.
We're 6 days post accident and Claire has moved from ICU (there for four days) to a regular room (currently in the second full day here). The progress Claire has shown has been phenomenal.

In ICU the first day after her surgery she was essentially in a drug induced rest, sleeping throughout the day and allowing her body to do all the hard work of recovering from what she had just been through. Karlee and I began the process of switching nights at the hospital with her.

Her second day in ICU she was in and out of consciousness and very tolerable of all of the testing and poking and prodding that needed to be done. She began that day showing us just how tough a little worker she is when she told me two things; "I want water" and "I want to sit up." At this point we could certainly oblige, at least partly, with both requests which made her happy - as did all the pain medication. :) This night was the first night that I stayed at her bedside, awake every hour, watching her, rubbing her legs and feet and talking with her through all of the nurses visits. My touches on her legs and feet created not a single stir or reaction which was unfortunately the exact reaction we were expecting. :(

Days three and four she proved herself enough to the doctors in the ICU that she was able to be transferred out of ICU on day 5 and into a normal hospital room. Multiple times during her stay in ICU she would use her arms and try to roll herself over, sit up, or even pull herself out of bed. Very impressive, considering only days prior she was so badly injured. She also started herself back on solid foods during these days. The really sad part during these days was to see her frustration start to come out as she realized that there was something wrong with her legs. However, her neurosurgeon from the Sunday morning surgery did stop by on day three to see how she was doing. He walked around the foot of the bed and as he did he tickled her left foot, which jerked and flexed to his touch. My mouth just dropped open and I pointed to her foot. Before I could say a word though, the doctor told us that the movement we saw was reflexive and involuntary and not to make too much out of it because of that. Inside, Karlee and I could only see the good in it and hold on to that glimmer of hope.

Days 5 and 6 were spent in the normal hospital room, still with multiple wakings and pokings and proddings and Claire's continued realization and frustration that her legs were not moving at her request. Still, we continued to massage and flex and rub her feet and legs and continued to get those "reflex" responses to our touch. Karlee and I would try to test Claire to see if she knew which foot we were touching, but it never seemed that she could get the right answer, so it appears that the "feeling" isn't transmitting all the way to her brain but is at least making it into her legs and allowing them to flex and move. The rehab doctors also visited and had Claire sit up at the edge of her bed with her legs hanging down and asked her to move them, which she couldn't - no matter how hard she tried. She got really upset and told them that her legs were "stuck."
On day six she finally got to get out of bed and into a wheel chair. A change from laying down all the time to the wheelchair certainly made her happy, but we could tell that all the moving around hurt. She was brought back to her bed and was seriously wiped out. Just exhausted from it all. It was this day that we found that we would be moved once again to another room, but this time it is in the rehabilitation center at PCH. We were moved to the room later in the day on the 23rd and that is where you currently find me typing this message.
Rehab.. It's going to be tough for her.. LOTS of hard work.. But, Claire absolutely HATES that she cannot make her legs move and this little girl is so determined that Karlee and I believe that if anybody can rehab from this injury, it's Claire..

More to come as the journey progresses.