September has come and gone in a flash and October is promising to be the same. The month was highlighted by Sabina’s birthday on the 14th. She was showered with many cards, flowers, texts and well wishes which made her feel very special. She was really moved by the fact that people “remember her” and care about her so much. It was very nice and we thank everyone so much for making it a special day (week) for her. We had dinner at Seasons 52, a place she has NOT lost memory of, and she did very well with ordering properly and restaurant etiquette. She still has difficulties with patience but it is getting better. We celebrated at home with our dorky decorations that we’ve had since the beginning of time as well as our traditional chocolate chocolate chip cake and of course Schlag (whipped cream). It was a very special birthday for Sabina in that she has no recollection of any previous ones and really embraced it. Thank you all for remembering her!

Rehabilitation continues to move forward, currently focusing on speech/language/ cognition/memory. Sabina completed the Aphasia Program at UCF on October 5 and we have seen a big improvement as a result of those 5 weeks. It is amazing what they do and how they do it. The program focuses one on one with the clients and is structured to address their individual needs. They stress speech, language, sentence structure, cognition, memory and recall. Sabina is so motivated and has met and exceeded most if not all of her goals. The most important part for us is that she enjoyed it and really looked forward to it every day. There are only 4 clients and thus so much opportunity for interaction with the students assigned to their case. The environment is so professional, empathetic and loving, it’s no wonder that it is so successful. I cannot say enough about the directors and the students, they are so invested in the clients and give 110% each and every day. They had a birthday party for Sabina, which brought her to tears, as well as a wonderful graduation ceremony. We will be doing a second session beginning in mid January and I look forward to further progress.

We’ve been on a hiatus from Brooks Rehabilitation in that we are at UCF 4 hours daily but will head back in the next week or so for PT and continued speech development. We are still doing our running 3-4 times per week with “muscle work” on the alternate days. We are improving our form, endurance etc and of course she wants to go further than we do. We’ve taken over 20 min off of our time  since we started running in May and Sabina has improved her balance and gait immensely. The neuropsychologist has recommended that we not increase our distance at this time (which I would have paid him to say) in order to allow her brain to catch up with her body. Her physical rehab has been remarkable, in no small part due to her excellent conditioning prior to the accident, and we just keep working on balance and tone. Unfortunately, she has become aware of body image and doesn’t care for her current physique. We’ve been talking about how much worse things could have been and how fortunate she is to have full use of her extremities. She’s getting it but like everything else, it’s going to take time. We are also beginning to work on portion control, smart food choices etc….it’s killing me to have to limit my “treats” to set a good example, but I’m taking one for the team.

We traveled to Chicago to see David, Sam, Sophia and Tommy at the end of the month. I was more than a little nervous about navigating the airport, the flight etc., but am very glad to report that it all went quite well. I feared that we could have caused some sort of international incident should there be any significant delay in the schedule, again, we are working on patience. Shoutout to the operations at OIA and O’Hare for the excellent programs they have in place for people with invisible disabilities. Sabina was treated with such dignity and respect and everything flowed seamlessly.

The visit was so awesome and Sabina was in her glory to be with her kids. (Julie travelled with us so we were only missing Natalie due to being in school and unable to miss). We had so much fun walking around town and experiencing the Lakefront, the museum where Sam works with a VIP tour, Lincoln Park Zoo and my personal favorite, Stan’s Donuts. We got our runs in at this cool elevated park known as the 606. It is an old train route that has been converted into a local green space/recreation area…it was so nice. The visit was short but meant the world to her. We look forward to all being together again at the holidays. Happy to report that the Chicagoans are well, settled and flourishing.

I’d like to once again invite as many as possible to participate in the 5K to benefit The Gift of Swimming on November 11, 2023. The event kicks off at Southwest Aquatics in Winter Garden at 7:30am I believe. Thank you to all those who have already registered, Sabina will be so excited to see you all at the event. Please consider making a donation if you are unable to be there but we would like nothing more than to see you in person. I will begin contacting some of you individually to “encourage“ your participation. I never ran a day in my life prior to May so come on out and join me in my misery…..Sabina Strong! 

I have included the registration links below.

Thank you to all for continued support and prayers for Sabina and our family,

This is the direct signup link

https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/WinterGarden/RunfortheGift

This is the website link which allows paper sign up

https://www.giftofswimming.org/runforthegift

Sabina Strong