Oct 31st

Melinda is doing well. She continues her home health therapies 3 times a week. She is working really hard. She is using her walker all the time. She only uses her wheelchair if she has to walk long distances or has no place to sit. We are practicing doing some walking without the walker. This is exciting. The balance has improved a little. Melinda has fallen a few times but is okay. We have talked about maybe getting her a cane. Melinda likes that idea and wants a pink one. She is doing so well getting herself dressed in the mornings and is even started tying her shoes. We are also noticing Melinda is showing a lot more emotions. I do believe our teenager is back. She does get frustrated with her exercises and doesn't want to do them. We have to have pep talks as to why we have to do exercises. Melinda understands that she won't get better if she doesn't work hard. The eye specialist in Enid gave Melinda good news. She does have some problems with her eyes but the doctor thinks maybe in 6 months they could improve. The doctor said, her retina and optical nerve looks good. I think he called it a muscle on the top of the eye that is damaged. The doctor said, this is common with any head injury. With the extent of her injuries her eyes look really good. He also said, all Melinda's physical problems are due to the brain injury and not her eyes. Melinda is enjoying having her braces off. She has to now keep track of her retainers. So far she is doing pretty good with keeping up with them. We stopped by Select Specialty Hospital to see the all the medical staff. Oh my gosh! They were amazed how much Melinda has improved. They told Melinda how really sick she was. It was a really good visit. We saw Dr. Britt which was the backup doctor for Dr. Huff. He looked at me and then Melinda and then back at me. He says, I know you. I said this is Melinda. Dr. Britt said she looked amazing and he would tell Dr. Huff. Our next trip was to see Dr. Smith, the rehab doctor. He said, she looks well and she needs to continue to walk at least 30 min - 1 hr a day. It was a long day for all of us but a exciting day to see everyone that helped with Melinda's recovery. We are looking into a rehab in Dallas TX that specialize in brain injuries. We took Melinda on Oct. 23rd and they evaluated her. They asked, Melinda why do you want to come? Melinda said, I want to walk. They said that Melinda would be a good candidate for their program. They also have a 98 acre ranch with horses. They have kids that are Melinda's age. Melinda is ready to go but awaiting the approval from the insurance company. Please pray that Melinda will be accepted and keep praying that she will continue to get better. God Bless.