A good meeting. A good day. Ray and Bill met with the folks at the rehab center in charge of Louise’s care. They talked insurance as well as other things. Bill said when he got there Louise was down and she hugged him in tears. Then she got a private room and it has made all the difference. It is in the long-term care part of the center. At first, we thought this might be a problem since she isn’t long term, but it is in a much quieter part of the facility and that is exactly what she needed. Once she was moved to her new room she perked up considerably. She has a sitting area and is excited that she can bring some of her things. We are going to try to get her to bring her dulcimer. Last weekend she played it while she was at home. She can play the songs she has known for awhile. The new ones, and the ones she needs the music for she cannot play. She cannot read the music, so she didn’t want to take the dulcimer with her. We are hoping that this new room will give her the space she needs to try to play some. We will see.
Bill also sat in on some of her speech therapy. They are working with her on trying to read. He says it is a good bit like what I do at work everyday. Breaking down letters, sounds, and pictures. She has some flashcards with simple words on them. She writes the letters fine, but understanding the symbols and blending them into words is the difficulty. They are putting pictures with words like cup, and pen. She is writing them on a white board. Her handwriting is perfectly normal. She can write a letter when you tell her to write it. It is just the words she cannot get. They will keep working with her on it, trying to expand her sight words.
And now she finally feels like there is someone who is getting to know her. The speech therapist explained to Louise that she knows she is smart and that she was a nurse. She explained to her how they will be trying to help her. This did a lot of good for Louise’s outlook. She is still quite intense and easily frustrated but she is at least trying to cooperate. Bill says she seems to think that everyone thinks she is dumb or that she isn’t one of the ones who will get better. Today for the first time, she felt like they figured out that she is smart and has abilities. This is a big step in the right direction…now if she can just remember all of this tomorrow 
She was having some pain today. She figured out that she has been having some, but that she didn’t know how to express it or even that she was having it. Now that they have figured out that she is hurting, she is on pain meds regularly. This helps her attitude as well, so as long as she doesn’t have a lapse where the pain gets to great, she seems to be in a much better mood. We think that as she settles in to her new place that some of the anxiety will be gone. Head injured people need routine and all the changes upset them. Now that she has a place and she is learning the different people she will be working with, we hopefully will see less agitation. As always, thank you for your prayers.