Happy New Year!

First off, I'd like to wish each and every one of you a happy and healthy 2007.

Secondly, I feel it has been a while since I've posted on Natalie's progress and I know today is the perfect day to recollect my personal experiences with her this past week.


Rebecca and I drove up to Schenectady on Christmas morning - the greatest time to drive, I believe we got there in about 2 1/2 hours. We drove directly to the Foulger's apartment where we met the family - Marc, Tina, Kyle, Al, and Natalie. We spent about 7 hours there before Becca and I left and the rest of the pack brought Nat back to Sunnyview.

While at the apartment we played games (the present game, hungry hungry hippos, battle of the sexes, charades, etc.), enjoyed a delicious meal compliments of Marc, and watched The Grinch.

I couldn't help but notice how much more expressive Nat seemed from the last time I visited. She was laughing a whole lot and telling jokes of her own. I was also very pleased to see that she is getting a little bit of her attitude back! When someone would ask her to do something she didn't want to she'd let them know - For example, Becca would say, "How about you eat some carrots?" - and Nat replied with, "How about, no!" This may have happened about 10 times while I was visiting and it cracked everyone up each time she said it.

Along with her increased expressions Nat is also feeding herself wonderfully. She holds water bottles to take drinks from straws or directly from the bottle. She can use spoons and forks and is very understanding, even when she doesn't feel hungry, that she must eat to get stronger faster. During her meals the family tries to get Nat to eat as much as possible because they all (including Natalie) want to have her feeding tube removed. Currently she is only receiving tube feeds at night.

The other improvement that I observed is Natalie's walking progress. This was so amazing to watch because I had never even seen her stand up with her walker before. I was able to stand in on one of her physical exams where therapists tested her ability to walk. First they stood her up (which she does on her own by pushing herself out of her wheelchair) and she grabbed onto her walker. They then asked her to walk for three minutes and measured her distance. The therapists were unable to help her because it was a test and were only allowed to stand behind her and 'spot' her from behind. This did not stop Natalie from walking an unbelievable 97 feet in the three minute period! I was shocked to see how fast she was able to move with the walker and both Becca and Tina were floored by her acheivement. After this test they asked her to walk from one line of tape to another (a distance of 5 meters). Before she started Natalie said she could do it in thirty seconds. The therapist started the timer and Nat was off. This test was repeated and Natalies times, respectively were 26 and 20 seconds! She managed to shock us all again! The final test was a little buggy and we had to have Nat re-do it three times because the computer measuring her steps was goofing up. Nat was to walk down a mat with sensors hooked to a computer that would calculate her exact steps so therapists could work on any corrections. It turns out repeating the exercise three times drastically helped Nat because she improved greatly in her last try. After this test was complete and we headed back upstairs to her room we kept hearing from different therapists of how surprised and happy the test givers were of her progress.

All in all I can definitely say that Nat is progressing wonderfully at Sunnyview. The therapists are all doing a terrific job with her and she really is coming back to us. Again I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year and a strong recovery for Natalie and the family!

Sincerely,
Mike