Very interesting afternoon. She thinks occupational therapy is really dumb and boring: how to load a dishwasher, how to make a bed, how to make a cup of tea. I told her to humor the therapists, it's just part of their job to double check you can do basic things.
So we're sitting in a room full of patients being attended to by various therapists ... and Harriet starts crying, really heavily. I dart over to see what the matter is, expecting to hear that her mother is dead, but instead she says, All these wonderful people. I asked her what she meant. All these wonderful people dedicating their lives to help people like me. It brought tears to my eyes and the eyes of the therapist. Harriet, with more compassion and empathy than any human I've met.
Later, as I said my goodbyes and reminded her she was coming home in only four days, she said, Maybe we can have a simple life.
YES YES YES YES!!!! I sure hope so.
Most encouraging was the speech therapist. I see little progress but she sees "awesome progress" and is delighted, and she is the boss. She reprimanded me for being too complicated when I went thru what happened. She wants see spot run, the screenplay version, not the novel version. I can do that. She again warned me to keep friends away for a while. This is a very big deal with the therapists. They say well meaning friends are one of the major obstacles to brain injury recovery. How strange.
She had trouble getting to her feet from the floor, like yesterday in the park. This is our greatest challenge so far.
All in all, a very very good day, and I got to play with and set up with her Kindle tablet with the camera, which will only be available to her for short times a day. In fact, today I learned we are being sent home with a very structured day and exercises we have to do. More flexibility and rest time than in the hospital, but a structure and repetition and simplicity appear to be the keys. They are not leaving things to chance with us, which is good.
Maybe we can have a simple life.
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