Bread, Bushes and Breakthroughs

One of the hardest parts of this journey, for me anyway, has been the change in Kori's personality.

It's hard to describe the change.  She was just different.   Her voice was not the same,  her articulation was not the same.  Her words were emotionless.  She was not without emotion, but the tone of her voice was very.....  blah (monotone).  And her brain, very obviously, processes information differently because the way she says things or the way she interprets information indicates that.  

Little by little lately, we have noticed her personality returning.  

She is starting to sound like herself again.  Pheeeeew!

The other day, Mom and Kori went to Great Harvest to pick up some bread. 

The best part of buying your bread at Great Harvest is receiving a lovely free sample.  If you are lucky, you get there just as they are taking a warm loaf out of the oven.  There is nothing better.

Well, this particular day, they were sampling one of their newer breads called

Breakfast Blast.

Mom asked if she could take a second sample out to her daughter who was in the car.  

(it must have been her lucky day because the sampler said "yes")

Usually, they say "No.... Ma'am, I regret to inform you,  there is only one sample per purchase"  and then you feel embarrassed like you are some sort of loser-beggar....  I speak from several unpleasant begging experiences, wherein I was denied a second piece of bread for my "friend in the car."..  or "my co-worker back at the office".....  whatever.  And I am only a little bitter.   And it may or may not be the reason why I no longer buy my bread there.   But, I have digressed.  Returning to the story.

So, mom scores a second piece of bread and takes it out to Kori.

And boy, did they enjoy that bread full of crunchy, fruity deliciousness.

As they pulled up to Kori's house, she started recounting again how much she enjoyed that bread.

And then she says "what was the name of it?......  Morning Fiesta?"

And my mom fell out of the car, she was laughing so hard.  

It was such a clever use of word association.  And a classic example of the way her brain works lately.  My dad now calls the bread  "Fiesta Fun"  which is especially funny to those of us who live in St. Geezy.

Another day, Mom was helping Kori out to the car and she was walking behind her as she usually does, just in case she loses her balance or trips or something...

And all of the sudden, without warning, she thought of something that she needed to rearrange in the car, so that Kori could sit in the front seat and she rushed by her to get ahead of her....  And in her haste, she either unknowingly knocked into her, or maybe the wind from the wake of her power walking blew into Kori.  Whatever it was, it sent her tail over teakettle into the bushes.  (Or as Kori describes it "she straight up knocked me into a thorn bush")

Anyway...  Kori didn't make a lot of noise as she was going down.  She sort of moaned and quietly made an attempt to call out for help...  but Mom was on a mission and didn't notice that she was sprawled out on the front lawn until she had made everything right in the car.  

"Oh. My. Gosh. my daughter....  what has happened over there?"  She said and she ran in a panic over to the wreckage.

"I think you knocked me over."  Kori replied

And instead of helping Kori up,  Mom just joined her in the gravel and mulch and cried.  

You know, there are two sides to every story.  And mom's version was a great deal different than Kori's and when you hear them both, it leaves you wondering if there weren't two entirely different incidents happening on two different days.  Mom's version:  sad and emotional and riddled with guilt and apologies.    Kori's version:  funny, with a bit of resentment and full of all kinds of accusations.   

Hmmmm....  one would have had to have been there to know the most accurate account,  I'll assume.

This care taker business is overwhelming both physically and emotionally.  

"yeah??"...  says Kori "you can say that again."

 Kori is experiencing a neurological breakthrough ( Dr. Tudor said so and he's "in charge"!!!)  She is having tingling sensations in both her leg and her arm.  This is very exciting and is sparking a lot of hope.  So, physical therapy and workouts are taking on a whole new meaning.   Like,  what can we do today to get some more tingling to happen?

This is Luke, one of Kori's Physical Therapists.  He and Kori ran together as part of team in a Ragnar Race a couple of years ago... so they go back a long way.  He is so kind to her (all of her therapists are, even Richard) and always compliments her on her hair.  He also told her the hair on her legs isn't prickly (Russ isn't a very consistent shaver).  Now there's a REAL compliment.  Luke's ward meets in Mom and Dad's building on Sundays, so he can't get away from us, even on the weekends.

This is doctor Tudor.  He is growing out his hair and let mom take a picture of it.  He is so optimistic for the future and has scheduled an MRI for four weeks.

Kori's birthday is Wednesday.  We are going to have a couple of celebrations over the next week.  The next post will have lots of photos of all of the "Morning Fiesta Fun"