An Update provided by Kori herself.....

Tonight I am so happy.  I got a text from Kori out of the blue.  I haven't wanted to call or text her because I don't want to bug her or make her feel like she has to talk to me if she is tired or busy.  Kami talked to her on the phone a couple of days ago.  And I was envious.  

She was sending me texts to let me know what her days are like, so I could put it on the blog.  

Her typing is so much better than it was just a week ago.  Remember this post a week ago?  I was in my kitchen cleaning up from dinner when this came through.  

I was trying to figure out what she was trying to say when the second post came through with these retyped words 

 "Brain vrumors suchli".  

And I burst into tears and stood in my kitchen sobbing for 2 minutes while the sink filled up with water.   My response....   "yes they do."

But tonight was almost perfect.  

Tonight, she is typing so well and that makes me happy.  And she sounds like herself.  She told me that her hands are swollen and her fingers are fat and her dexterity isn't as sharp as usual and so it is hard to type on her little phone.   But the greatest thing is she keeps trying and practicing.  It's hard when you don't get to see her and talk to her to know the real reality.  That is why it's the greatest thing to get a report from her first hand.....in her own words.  She is doing really well and she is positive and upbeat and has the greatest attitude.

She told me that her day begins at 3:00 am with blood draws.  Then at 6:30, she gets to order breakfast.  She takes a bunch of meds and has to have a shot in her stomach to prevent blood clots.  She says they really burn.   She gets two of them a day and her stomach is purple and green from them.

Then her therapies start.  

Physical Therapy first.  She likes PT.  She really likes the bike.  She says they strap her weak leg in and the right leg does all the work. 

Here she is walking.  

Dad says that it is VERY difficult for her because she has no use of her left arm as you can see in this picture.  It is strapped down too.   And her left foot keeps getting tangled up in the wheel of the walker.  But he says she is trying so hard.  Her therapist told Dad that today was the longest distance she has walked and that she is very determined and doing very well.   She wears the brace on her leg to keep her knee from hyper-extending

Then she moves on to Occupational Therapy.  I didn't know what Occupational Therapy was exactly so I asked her.  She said they help her with daily tasks like taking a shower and getting herself dressed.  She says getting dressed is super hard because she keeps trying to put both legs in the same pant leg.  Well....... I don't see what's wrong with that.   I do that at least 2 times a week and I usually end up falling over....   So......

They do a lot of standing activities too and work on her balance as well.  She hates balance exercises.  

But nowhere near as much as she hates Speech Therapy.  She says she complains to her nurse everyday about speech and she also complains to Dr. Rao.  But, she says he just laughs.   In speech therapy she has to look at "dumb pictures" or listen to a story and then she has to put them in order.  These are called sequencing activities.  She also has to do puzzles.  She gets very frustrated because the therapist keeps telling her that her logic is not correct.  How does the therapist know her logic is not correct?  We are all entitled to our own interpretations are we not?   It's called poetic licensing.  It's a real thing.  She is very excited because tomorrow, Sunday,  she doesn't have speech.

She is very bored.  I told her to have Dad get her a good Harlequin Romance Novel with Fabio on the cover.  She said "no, that's scary."  She isn't a TV watcher or a movie watcher either, so she must be crazy bored.

She also said that she had to tattle to mom today because Dad and Russ were being mean to her by making her sit in a chair for FOUR hours.   They are trying to get her used to it so she'll be able to sit on the plane.  She wanted to go back to bed, but they wouldn't let her.  

I said "Good for them.  You need to come home to us."

The sooner, the Better