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April 29 - Hi there, here is the update for the week of April 23. Now that we are home, we are trying to get into a schedule, but that has been a bit difficult since it seems to change each day. Monday we went to Geisinger to see the eye doctor. No new news on Lisa's right eye; we will continue to monitor it. Tuesday we had a school meeting. We agreed that Lisa would start school in a support services class. She would start a few hours this week and add a bit of time next week including lunch at the school. She will have therapies at school as well as outpatient therapies during the week. Praise that the meeting went well as we have tried to provide Lisa with the opportunities she needs to continue her education. Lisa attended school Wed and Friday. (She had a doctor's appointment on Thursday). She did well in school and even got homework which she did willingly! She stays in the same class, so she hasn't needed to navigate the crowded hallways yet. Thursday Lisa went to Geisinger to get the stitches removed from her skull incision. All went well and the incision is healing well. Lisa is also doing OT, PT, and Speech therapy within the Laurel Health System. She is doing well with these services and is also working on some homework for Speech and exercises for PT. She is enjoying getting out and seeing family and friends. She doesn't have a lot of time for a social life because of her school and therapy schedule, but she does manage to get on the computer and "talk" to her friends. Lisa met a goal this week. She agreed to read 5 short chapter books to get a reward of a two dollar bill. She has been reading the books since she returned from Phili, and this week she finished the fifth book. April 21 - Hi, I know I'm a bit later than usual to send the update, but here it is: This week was busy. We have been working at home on worksheets. We are doing spelling, vocabulary, reading, math, and also mind games whenever we get a chance. Lisa is also reading on her own, a few chapters at a time. We saw the therapist at the LHS therapy department in Wellsboro. They met Lisa and did some evaluations. She will start PT, OT, and Speech therapy next week. We went to Gesinger to see the neurosurgeon. We thought he was going to do surgery to put the skull back in. But when he saw Lisa, he thought he needed to do it in two steps--first clean the incision and make sure there wasn't any infection in the incision, and then at a later date put the skull back in. I was disappointed it couldn't be done all at once, since she will still need to wear the helmet until it is completed. We have been going to various activities--school related and church related. We have seen many people and everyone it amazed at how well Lisa is doing. Lisa is not so sure about all the extra attention, but she is adjusting to home life well. April 16 - We(Jean and Lisa) had a pass to leave the hospital Sat and Sunday. We spent Saturday with my sister taking a driving tour of Phili, since it rained. We saw downtown Phili--small streets, art work, row houses, crossed over Ben Franklin Bridge into NJ, and some of the historic section. Sunday we toured the historic section by foot with some of our family. We had a good time looking at Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Christ's Church, and other places. Monday we had a school meeting by conference. The therapist and staff from CHOP gave the school reports of all the testing they had done in the past week and gave the recommendation on how to continue the education process at home. The school personnel were "in tune" to what she needs and I feel they are looking at the best way to give her what she will benefit the most. Tuesday Lisa went to the eye doctor. We discussed more right eye lid surgery in July. Also we found out Lisa does have some sight in her right eye and she can even see some color. They don't know if anymore will come back but it is good news that she even has some, since that will help with her balance. Wednesday we left Children's Hospital of Philadelphia! We said our final good byes. I left feeling a bit anxious wanting to know what the next steps might be, but Lisa left in search of her cats which she was missing more and more each day. Thursday though Saturday, we went different places, some to visit people, some for sport events. But on Sunday we went to Easter Church Services. It was great to be back celebrating not only Christ's resurrection but also the miracle in Lisa. We have so much to be thankful for and praise God for all he has done in Lisa's life. April 7 - This week was full of testing. Lisa had tests in OT, Speech, School, Neuro-psych, and PT. This is all in preparation to get ready for the school meeting scheduled for Monday (April 10th). She went to see the eye doctor. He is pleased with the progress of her eye. It is still swollen and slightly red, but he is hopeful that will get better. She will need more surgery on the upper eye lid. (She is the youngest person I know to have so many parts of a face lift!) Lisa had community group with the teenagers. They were to go back to the Penn Book Store on Wed but it was cancelled. Lisa had her eye on a game (Steelers Monopoly) that she was going to buy. So we are planning to get it this weekend during her pass from the hospital. She played kickball on Thursday, in which she had a good time. The team she was on won. And on Friday, they made dirt pudding. We moved again to another room. We are in room 310. Lisa's roommate doesn't talk much; and her mom doesn't speak much English. So we aren't getting to know them well. Lisa is starting to read on her own at night to get better at reading and word recognition. She is currently reading a small chapter book called Cheyenne Rose. I hope she will continue to read and enjoy it. This will help her to relearn some of the words her brain has forgotten. And last but certainly not least, we are looking forward to our return home next Wed. We are getting all kinds of tips and helpful hints from the therapist in things we can do to help Lisa and our family readjust to a new schedule. They have suggested many board and card games to help build her vocabulary, reading, word recognition, memory etc. So we will need to have game night to get all of us into the game mode. April 1 - We are already in April! We started the week out with a "day pass" in which Lisa was allowed to leave the hospital with family for a period of time. We went to a Chinese restaurant and then to spent some time at the Ronald McDonald House. We had a good time and Lisa did well out on the town. On Monday, Lisa had her eye surgery. It was late in the afternoon; therefore she didn't get back form the ordeal until 7:10 PM. It doctors were leased with the surgery; and she seemed to tolerate it well. We had a teenage girl move into our room Monday afternoon, but we moved to another room on Tuesday morning because the roommate was a bit noisy during the night and Lisa didn't sleep too well. She ended up sleeping most of the day Tuesday. So we are now in a room with a 5-year-old girl who has been through much of the same things as Lisa. During the community group time, the group went the Penn Book store on Wed. shopping. Lisa bought a music CD and had a time of shopping and looking in one of the largest bookstores, which even included an escalator. The group also made ice-cream sandwiches on Friday. We are both ready to come home--April 12 is still the targeted date. We have a lot of planning and deciding as far as outpatient therapy and school education. The therapist and doctors are testing and retesting skills--cognitive and physical for information to be used in deciding what is the appropriate follow-up care for Lisa. We still see improvement and the doctors said we hope to see it continue up to a year from now. As Lisa gains more fine coordination and cognitive skills, she will be able to do more and more skills. March 28 - Lisa is still sleepy from her surgery last night. She went to her first therapy but could hardly keep her eyes opened and then she said she didn't feel good. (She had eaten breakfast.) So I (Jean) told her she could go back to sleep--and that is what she did. She also moved rooms and is now in room 318. She had gotten a roommate who was noisy last night and she didn't get a lot of rest; so she was moved to the new room this morning. Her new roommate is a girl who was also in a car accident. She is from East Smithfield. We had already met her family while we were down here, so we should get along well. |
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April 29
April 21
April 16
April 7
April 1
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