*Natalie's current status

"Since Natalie’s condition has changed in many, many little ways, since she first arrived at this hospital, I thought it might be a good idea to summarize her current status. Natalie remains in a “semi-coma” or “lightened coma” and is in the long and often very slow process of “coma emergence”. She is not aware of most of what is going on around her. She breathes on her own through her trach and can cough, yawn and swallow. She originally had no muscle tone and could not move, now her muscle tone is gradually returning, but she is clearly weaker on her left side than on her right side. She can move her right arm and hand freely, although her control over it is hampered by tremors. This arm and hand is very active, and tends to pull at her various tubes a lot! Her left arm and hand can move, but the muscles pull very tight most of the time so that her arm is usually fully bent at the elbow and the fingers tightly curled in the hand, it is impossible to straighten this arm out fully. She now has a special spring loaded splint that she wears for several hours a day on this arm, which will gradually straighten the arm. Natalie recently began to move her right leg, though she mostly just bends the knee and pulls her foot up, we straighten it several times a day to try to prevent it becoming as tight as her left elbow. She cannot move her left leg. Although both feet are in casts she sometimes moves her toes. She can now also move her neck, and is beginning to hold her head up when sitting in the wheelchair. Natalie opens her eyes fully and looks around, but it is not always clear what she sees. Sometimes she will focus on specific things or on people and sometimes will track them if they move. She responds to familiar voices and at least sometimes seems to understand what is said to her or in front of her. She can open and close her mouth and make facial expressions. She likes to have her teeth cleaned and her neck massaged. She does not like any of her various tubes. Her trach has a small plastic hose that brings moistened air to keep it from drying out. She has a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) in her right arm, through which she receives nourishment and some medicines. She has a “J tube” in her belly for feeding, but it is not working right now because doctors have still been unable to get it correctly positioned inside her. And of course she has a catheter.


Natalie has a special wheelchair that can recline and has a head support. She sits in the chair for an hour every day, or goes downstairs for physical therapy. Natalie needs to be fully supported when being lifted in or out of the chair or when sitting on a platform for therapy. The objectives of the therapy are to increase the range of motion of her limbs and to stimulate her to help with the process of coma emergence. As soon as she is medically stable she will be transferred to a specialized rehab center where she can get more specialized and intensive therapy. She will start in a coma stimulation program, and if she emerges from the coma more she will graduate to a traumatic brain injury program. The ultimate goal is to try to get her fully aware and better enough that she can come home, for the remaining months or years of therapy."


*This update has been provided by Natalie's father.