Pictures from Ecuador

As many of you know, Marlyn has had no recollection of our short trip to Ecuador. In fact, she has had no recollection of ever planning the trip, let alone going there. The closest memory preceding her accident that we could trace was putting gear in our newly built shed two nights before we left.

Yesterday, I finally got around to showing Marilyn the few pictures we took in Ecuador. At first they were nothing but pictures to her. Then suddenly, a trigger. There was a picture of a vary modern glass building in a park we had visited above the city of Quito. She remembered the building and then, more memories came flooding back.
As we looked at the pictures from Vilcabamba, where she was hurt, she recalled the place we stayed there - even the layout of the hotel grounds.

Of course, this is scary and encouraging, all in one. I hope she never remembers the accident but I am glad that she is piecing more and more things together leading up to it.

Psychologically Challenged

I'm still here and living through the psychological challenges of having a brain injury: my left side not working and my brain being somewhat different in terms of its cognitive functioning lately. We have moved into a new room on the East side which gives us more freedom and responsibility and I am still working on relearning to walk and it is coming along still according to schedule. I did get upset earlier in the week because I was trying to fold my clean laundry and since my left side is so weak, I was not able to fold. That was really hard for me to get through and incredibly frustrating about this injury. We did have a team meeting and I was told these frustrations are part of recovery from my injury - my prognosis is that full recovery may be up to 2 years. we'll see. bye everyone!

Alison's Post

I thought Alison's comment from the last post was so good that I have copied it over as a new post.

Gareth

Hi Mar and everyone, I just talked with Mar tonight who sounds great!! Mar, your voice is really sounding like yourself again. It's so cool! Mar was busy packing to move to Craig's East Wing tomorrow, which will give her a lot more privacy and freedom, and has a kitchenette. And Mar's new discharge date is Jan 4--this is moved up, so obviously the doctors see how fast Mar is improving--very exciting!! Mar was writing with her left hand, slowly but legibly, and walking and tackling stairs, with a little assistance. She and Gareth visited Gareth's parents, and with Gareth's help, Mar left her wheelchair in the car. They also went to a Broncos game, complete with Vandy quarterback Jay Cutler. As it turns out, one of Mar's doctors works with the Broncos, and will see if Jay can come visit Mar.

There's still a journey before us, but as the Beatles say, "It's getting better all the time"

Love, Alison