Posting this on behalf of my dad, Will.

Hello! I know it’s now been over a year since I have posted here on Caring Bridge. For that, I sincerely apologize. I understand that many of you that follow this site for updates on Vicki’s progress. So here is the latest.

Last year, Vicki was still doing several outpatient therapy appointments at Mayo Clinic, St. Mary’s Campus – particularly Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. Her OT, Barb, happened to mention to Vicki that there was a new group of OT students that she had to prepare for. Since Vicki had retained her medical knowledge, she thought she could offer a unique insight to students as she was not only a doctor, but a doctor that had suffered a traumatic brain injury. Vicki told Barb that if she ever needed a “test patient,” she would like to volunteer. 

The idea clicked with Barb, but she took it a step further. She coordinated with Vicki’s Speech Therapist, Nichole (and eventually Alecia), to have Vicki develop a presentation/talk that she could give to the students and to the OT & Speech Therapy staff.

Vicki worked on relearning Power Point and put together an amazingly informative and heart-felt presentation. It was so successful, that Vicki has been asked to give similar presentations to the OT students at University of Minnesota Rochester; and to the residents that she once taught in the Department of Family Medicine at Mayo. She will be involved in a conference called, Transforming Primary Care on May 24, presenting her insights into her personal experience of traumatic brain injury. These talks have given her a unique opportunity to use her medical knowledge. She has said, “If I had to go through this experience, I wanted something good to come from it. I want people to learn from what I’ve gone through.”

This is only one of the astounding examples of what Vicki has accomplished over the last two years. The physical gains alone would be amazing! She’s gone from a being in a wheelchair, to walking 2.9 MPH on a treadmill! 

There will always be challenges to work through each day. Vicki still struggles with balance, cognitive and speech changes that are limiting. There are good days and bad days. But she does go on. 

Vicki and I make a pretty good team. I’m so fortunate that I can be by her side in all of this. I don’t feel like a “caregiver” anymore. I’m her husband Will. That, to me, is incredible progress.