As a long summer break approaches, Sherry is working very hard with her two University of Oregon student speech pathologists. We are all so impressed with James and Tim as well as Karen, their supervising professor. They really put Sherry through her paces and I know she is making progress, moving forward as she likes to say. What we really like is that they have chosen "real life" goals for Sherry, working on things she can really use in her life. For example, the last several weeks have been spent on practicing how to do a bank deposit and how to go through checkout in a grocery store. Last Thursday, for her "graduation", Sherry and Gayle met with all three at the Albertson's near our home. The store manager was kind enough to let them all take over a check stand for the better part of an hour. The therapists role played the part of the checker and had Sherry practice handing the checker her debit card, asking him to please slide it for her. Then she was able to enter the PIN number herself and complete the transaction with the debit card machine. Everyone was thrilled at how well she did. She was also able to complete a a deposit at the US Bank located in the store. After James, Tim and Karen had left, Sherry and Gayle did some actual shopping. When it was time to pay, Sherry took the lead and according to Gayle, did an awesome job. I am so proud of her and what is more important, she was very proud of herself. She admitted to being scared in the beginning, but took pride in what she had accomplished.
Sherry is now working on a different way to send email. She uses a program developed especially for people with brain injuries. It was developed at the U of O and is called CogLink. She has been using it for many weeks now, with some success. She is able to slowly type out short messages with help. She often does it by herself with mixed results. She has difficulty with spelling (something we are going to work on at home this summer) but likes to feel in touch by emailing her family and former co-workers. James and Tim have some ideas regarding special software that will help her send longer, more meaningful emails. We are all looking forward to the possibilities.
Most of the time Sherry has a great attitude and work ethic, it has carried her far and served her well. However, there are times when she does get down on herself. She yearns for the "old Sherry" and often get very emotional and teary. She is also easily frustrated at times and does not really know how to express her feelings. This can can lead to frequent "meltdowns" as we have come to call them. These can occur at home as well as out in public. Sherry takes medicine to address this issue, but we have noticed that it seems to be happening more often in recent weeks. With all the stress our family faces, it is no wonder, but it is a problem. Her doctor suggested to her that she seek counselling as a way to approach the problem. Sherry was at first, resistant to the idea. She finally agreed to let Gayle make an appointment for her. She had her first session today. Gayle was able to find a therapist that actually has experience with cortical blindness and working with brain injuries. I talked to him on the phone shortly before her appointment, and was very impressed with his experience and attitude. He told me that his first job, as a therapist, is to create an environment that Sherry will want to come back to. He succeeded in this and I really feel that Sherry will get a lot out her visits. I will keep you all informed.
This weekend we will have our first home visit with Chelsea since we had her placed in therapeutic foster care. I see her once a week at her school, but it will be nice to have her home again, if only for s short time. She is still struggling, not always making the best decisions, but I know she is trying, she wants to get back home. Only time will tell, but that is what we all want, to have our family whole again. I went on a pity tirade with my last post (sorry about that), so I will just leave it at that for now. Again, I will keep you all informed about Chelsea's progress.
Enough for now....I love me wife and family,
tomorrow we move forward
Dean
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