Hello, 

It has been a while since we provided an update, but no news is pretty good news!  Overall, mom is doing really well!  In fact, thinking about the prognosis we received 7 months ago, it is crazy to think how far we have come! 🙏 

Mom had some neuropsychology testing done in March and we received her results in April.  This was done to get an idea of her current “baseline” and see where she is at regarding returning to work, living independently, etc.  The evaluation took almost an entire day, they did various kinds of memory, language, problem solving and judgment type of tests.  When we went over the results, her doctor was encouraged by some of the results and wants to see more improvement in others, but her results were consistent with a bilateral brain injury.  Mom did very well with her language and comprehension, and they were surprised that she actually did well with multi-tasking.  She still had some issues with short term memory/recall, some problem solving issues and trouble sustaining her attention for a period of time.  The doctor said that the good news is that she has made a lot of progress and believes that she will continue to make more progress over the next few months and said that the plateau is usually closer to the one-year mark of the injury.  So, she will have another evaluation towards the end of September to see where things are at then.  The doctor said that mom is not able to return to work, which was really tough for mom to hear.  Mom was very eager to get back to work and has so many friends at work she is definitely missing!  The doctor also gave her the go-ahead to move back into her own house and live on her own - which she was very happy to hear – she said that as long as we make sure we help with meds and check in on her often, she didn’t have a concern with her being home on her own.   

The doctor wants mom to continue working with speech therapy to keep trying to improve with her memory, attention span and to try get her closer to her pre-injury status.  She wants mom to try working on keeping a routine and using a planner, making lists, etc. to help her keep her independence. 

As of right now, mom is still living with Danielle.  So Harper is loving having her grandma around, they go to the park, bake and all the things mom has always done with the kids!  It is good to see her doing the things that she used to do and being independent – she will whip up a batch of cookies from memory, walk up to the store for groceries, she will have lunch ready for Danielle when she comes home on her break (so spoiled) and finds things to keep herself busy.  Mom usually remembers to take her meds on her own and is pretty good about remembering when she has therapy and getting herself up to the clinic.    

While we still notice some short-term memory issues, mom actually catches it herself too.  So, we are hopeful that she will be able continue to improve with therapy and she will be able to continue to focus on her brain healing. 

Overall, we are happy to report that things are going well and we are so thankful for all the progress our mom has made! 😊