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Brianna Update

2009-11-11T16:34:00.000-06:00

Good news!! The TRC just called to let us know that Brianna will be able to start her 2 week trial on Monday. She will be there 11/16 to 11/20 then a break the week of Thanksgiving and then back on 11/30 to 12/4 if she passes they will take her right into the program on 12/7.

OK New Post

2009-11-03T07:27:00.003-06:00

Brianna went to the doctor yesterday and he released her. Kidney/bladder infections is gone legs look good. As soon as she got home she put on her jeans. She was a happy camper. I have a call into the TRC and waiting to hear back from them to see when Bree will get to go back for the one week assessment for J.O.B.S. Well most of the trees in our yard have lost their leaves they look so sad. Yes I have been busy with my crafty things our Harvest Fair here in Portland is Saturday, November 14th.
Once we hear from the TRC I will post again.
Everyone be safe at whatever you day but enjoy life.

Brianna update

2009-10-22T14:53:00.002-05:00

Bree went back to the doctor on 10/19 and he was very pleased at how good her legs look. The one sore is really deep so it is taking a while to heal. The other two are almost completely healed. He will see her again on 11/2 for another recheck. Now if they are still looking good then she gets to start walking more and wearing pants again. She will start out in sweats and jogging pants then she will graduate to jeans. Once she has worn her jeans for a few days with a lot of walking and no rash then he will release her. Then we notify TRC and they put on at the top of the list to come back for another one week trial. They would do a one day assessment for JOBS to see if she can go into that program. If the assessment goes well then it is back on the list for an opening so she can do her trial period with them. Their trial period I believe is two weeks then if she passes that then I believe it is back on a list for an opening. This could go on forever. Lets hope not.

Just moving along

2009-10-17T09:38:00.002-05:00

Well Brianna's legs are looking much better. The skin is peeling some from the infection. The meds they have her on for the bladder/kidney infection makes her drowsy other then that no hives which is awesome. Bree doesn't do well on antibiotics. She only has one spot that still looks yucky but each time I put the cream on it seems to slowly be improving. Thanks for all the prayers. Now if Bree will just take this situation and learn from it then that will be a good thing. She can't live on four or five hours of sleep a night. It only took a little over two weeks and her body started crashing. We will have to wait and see what happens once she gets back to TRC. We have already told her she WILL NOT be staying there over the week-end until she proves herself. We will pick her up on Friday right after her class and take her back Sunday evening. She is not a happy camper on that note but we told her once she has proven that she will go to her room no later then 9pm and take care of herself then we will slowly start letting her stay over the week-ends. We hate treating her like a child but if that is how she wants to act then SO BE IT.
Take care everyone.

Getting Better

2009-10-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

Brianna is getting better and Shelia is doing a AWESOME job nursing her. We have been doing a lot of talking to Bri regarding her taking care of her self. I am sure Shelia will post more in the days to come.

Brianna Update

2009-10-12T11:41:00.000-05:00

She went to our doctor today. He could not believe how bad it was and believe me it has gotten so much better. He took her off the cream and put her on clotrimazole antifungal cream and fluconazole for the yeast infection. He is sending off the urine sample to see if she has any infection there. He said to give her baths 3 to 4 times a day and to keep the area dry. The doctor also went over the importance of sleep, eating well and drinking water. He told her she needs at least 8 hours of sleep each night.

Update on Brianna

2009-10-10T11:11:00.002-05:00

We received a phone call from the TRC yesterday that they were doing a medical discharge on Brianna because she is so ill. They put her in a wheelchair on Thursday late afternoon after the doctor saw her for a second time and the infection was not getting any better if anything it was getting worse. They want her walking as little as possible because with her gate she is just rubbing those thighs raw.
WOW this yeast infection on her inner thighs is awful. It is rubbed raw. It is half way down her inner thighs. I have never seen anything this bad. She is in so much pain when she tries to walk. The doctor at the TRC has her on Nystatin Cream which is put on twice a day after she has showered and then she is also on Keflex 500 mg one cap in the am and pm. We have a doctors appointment with our doctor on Monday morning. She is a mess. She was so tired she went to bed at 9pm, even though she wasn't tired and was sounded asleep in 10 minutes.
Once she gets well we call the TRC and they will put her on the top of the list to see about getting her in the JOBS program.

Brianna (Take 2)

2009-10-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

Brianna (worked) the food service program today and tomorrow she will go back to the TBI unit. Monday she is going to the JOBS program. They are trying to find something for her.

Right now she is hurting (she has what we would refer to as Jock Itch and it is a sever case from what we are being told) we think it is caused by a combination of her gate (the way she walks) and not drying properly. She will be coming home this weekend to not only heal but for us to try and talk to her about the opportunity.

As we all know she is very social (as we all know) and being she was stuck with her parents for a long time. Now she is with her peers she went over board with them and got distracted from the purpose of the TRC....

I hope you all can read between the lines and understand where Shelia and I are with this situation....

Brianna Update

2009-10-06T19:15:00.003-05:00

Well Brianna did not make it into the TBI program at the TRC. They said the classroom setting is not a good fit for her. They believe she is a hands on learner. They are going to see if she can get into J.O.B.S. this is a program which provides instruction and helps develop basic work habits and behaviors that are necessary to learn before you can get a job or enter other training programs within the TRC. Needless to say this was not a good visit for Bree (or us). If JOBS doesn't work then we are not sure what will happen. We have to find something for Brianna she just can not continue living with us. She is only 24 and has her whole life ahead of her.

Not Sure About Bri.

2009-10-03T18:49:00.002-05:00

Well things at the TRC are iffy. Brianna has got her card taken away from her so she is not able to go on any off campus activities because she got caught with her "new boyfriend" (Mike) this is a different Mike from her first go around at the TRC. Our hands are tied and she is on her own. This is a real set back she does not understand how important this is for her. She only see's what is right in front of her. We have a meeting on Tuesday with the teachers and administration to determined if she can stay. We are taking more of her stuff when we go there on Tuesday. We are trying our best to remain positive. We can only hope our prayers are answered and she gets a clue. We are disappointed with her and ourselves. I can only hope all this worrying is for nothing and she see's the light. Stay tuned.

The count down is on

2009-09-22T07:33:00.002-05:00

Well we will be leaving around 8am tomorrow to take Brianna to TRC. She has had several meltdowns I'm not sure why. I told her she has already been to TRC and knows what is required of her but for some reason she is really nervous this time. We are thinking maybe it just seems more final to her that it is time for her to move on. But anyway if you could all say a prayer for her that she understands the importance of the classes and that she needs to stay focused on that and not the social aspect of the TRC.
Today is the first day of autumn my favorite time of the year. Lee and I hope to get out and get some really good pictures of the colors this year. Last year we keep saying we need to take a road trip to take pictures and then the next thing we knew there were no leaves on the tress. This year we hope to do better.
Everyone have a great day and be safe in what ever you do.

Love
the Brandts

Rain Rain Rain.... And more on the way

2009-09-19T08:19:00.001-05:00

Your gonna like this. Not sure if most of you know but we have had a lot of rain back here for the past week (and there is more to come) but anyway. There is flooding south of us and the other day they were doing a news report about a family who were trapped. They tried several ways to get to them with no luck. Finely the guy said the heck with it and loaded up his family and dog (a Black Lab) into their truck and decided to go for it. The news crew was there filming and the guy had to cross a spot that was about 2 feet deep. So here here he comes (about 25 miles an hour) and water was flying everywhere. Well he made it (Yay) and everyone was cheering and the cameras were rolling. Then the guy opens his door on the truck and the damn dog jumped out and ran right straight for the water and jumped in. The funny part was the camera man was shooting the dog and not the people who had just been saved. Anyway the dog almost drowned in the swift water. They saved him... Then they showed rescues with people using their John Deer Tractors........ Gotta love the south..

Brianna Update

2009-09-14T15:35:00.002-05:00

We just got the e-mail that Brianna goes into the TRC on September 23. Bless her heart. We were leaving on the 24th for Woman's Retreat for church to Pigeon Forge, which has already been paid for and now there will be no trip for Bree.

She said that's ok she is so excited. She goes in for her 2 week trial and now we pray that she gets accepted into the program.

Lock A

2009-09-03T07:35:00.003-05:00

http://s649.photobucket.com/albums/uu212/Brandt-127/Lock%20A%208-09/?albumview=slideshow

Our camp-out was great. There was 37 people at the pot luck. The camp grounds was so nice everything is so clean, green and I loved the paved site to put the rig on everything stays nice and clean. We were camped right on the Cumberland River and it was awesome.
TRC had their graduation on August 28tha and we went. Very touching. All the grads were so proud of what they had done. I believe 6 grads were from the TBI unit so hopefully that will open up some space.
We have all 3 been under the weather with some kind of bug or allergies or something.
Well we were up at 5am closing windows a 30% chance of hit and miss showers turned into lightening, thunder and a down pour that is still going on. Of course Bree slept through the storming. She gets up this morning ans says "oh it is storming outside" How she can sleep through the thunder I do not know the thunder here sounds like it is going to rip the house apart. Very, very loud!!
Well every one have a great day and be safe and remember the Lord loves you.

House for Sale

2009-08-26T09:02:00.002-05:00

Well the house has the for sale sign on it.
Once we get the link for the virtual tour I will post it for everyone to see.
We will be heading out tomorrow morning for our camp-out that we are hosting. We have all been down with some kind of virus so we have a lot of work to do today to get ready. Usually we do a little bit each day but we just haven't felt up to it. Today we are heading to Bowling Green to go to Camping World and Sam's Club then we will start packing the trailer. Hopefully the weatherman is wrong because they are calling for rain Thursday thorough Saturday. It is only 30% so if it does rain maybe it will just be a little.
Oh Alex told us last night that he made Staff Sergeant and Brianna is doing really well on her new meds for her depression. We still have not hear from TRC but they have a big graduation on Friday, which we will be going to so hopefully that will open up some space.
Everyone enjoy your day and be safe.

Update

2009-08-18T08:21:00.002-05:00

Brianna went to see Dr. John Cain yesterday for her psychiatric evaluation. He said yes he felt she is depressed but not extremely depressed. He has prescribed a low dose of Citalopram for her depression and anxiety so we will see how that goes. He will see her again on Sept. 14th. Hopefully she will be in TRC by then. No we have not heard anything from them.

Now on a lighter note.
We went camping with our Camp Tenn group. We had so much fun. The theme was "Birthday Bash". The kids and big kids decorated cupcakes. They did a really good job. Of course we had a great potluck with tons of food. It was pretty humid the whole time and we had a downpour on Friday night. The people in this group are awesome. Our next rip is August 26 - 31 and we will be hosting that one. The theme for our camp out is "A Day at the Beach" it should be fun.

Well gotta go lots of stuff to do after camping for 5 days.

Everyone have a great day and be safe.

Nothing Much Happening

2009-08-01T20:45:00.002-05:00

Not much going on. We got Brianna's report today from the TRC and it didn't really tell us much more then we already knew.

Brianna has been doing good for the past week and we hope she keeps it up. She has earned the right to Play her Play Station and watch TV 4 hours a day. She is keeping track her time and managing it. 2 hours each or 3 hours and 1 hour.

We got new neighbors today Ted Kennedy and his wife Donna. We went over and gave them a little house warming gift of a candle. Seem like nice people they moved here from Michigan.

We learned that July was the wettest and coolest in many many years... only 4 days in the 90's and over 6 inches of rain......... Man everything is so green....

Brianna Update

2009-07-17T16:59:00.001-05:00

Well good news and some not so good news on Bree.

They said she has more positives working for her then negatives but the negatives are something they can not work on.

She tested average on all the testing which is good and she has visual impairment on the right side and organizational problems. That we already knew. Her main problem and this is something only Brianna can work on is being interested in the TBI classes themselves. A lot of the times she would set in the class with her head on the table and not interact with the class, she will not make eye contact with people in class. They do believe Brianna is depressed and they want us to have her seen by a Psychiatrist for possible meds.

At this point they have put her on an active waiting list (2 to 4 months long) for her to come back for a two week trail period. If after the trail period they see more interest, interaction and enthusiasm on her part then she can start the program. If she does not show interest, interaction and enthusiasm she will not qualify for the TBI program.

So now it is really up to Brianna. She has the social side all wrapped up but the working part is a different story.

So now it is just a waiting game. We are leaving it in the Lords hands He knows what His plan is.

It's almost time

2009-07-16T22:02:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is the day that we find out if the TRC can put a program together for Brianna. Please keep her in your prayers. She is really enjoying herself there and I just don't know what will happen if they are not able to help her.

Just a Update

2009-07-14T16:31:00.002-05:00

Brianna is doing well and adapting to her new surroundings. She called last night and told us and I quote " Mom I love here and hope I make it into the program here at the TRC" she also said and I quote again "You and Dad are smothering me and I need to break free". At which point I said and I quote "Whoopee" ha ha ha...... Anyway she is doing real well and we wish her the best.

Yesterday as I was heading towards Wal-Mart going down "The 31w" I noticed a bug about the size of a Winnebago flying towards the car. Well it hit the outside rear view mirror and rick-o-shade inside the open car window and struck me in the neck. Well I was doing about 55 at the time and there was no place to pull over so I started slapping my neck and my shirt and everything else with-in range. I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and jumped out of the car (still slapping stuff) and this guy walked to me and asked if I was OK. I told him what happened and he saw the welt the size of a Winnebago on my neck. He started grinning (yes he had teeth) and we were looking all over the car for a dead or injured Winnebago. There it was laying on the back seat (Shinny side down) with it's wheels (LEGGS) churning the air. Well I quick like a bunny flicked him outside on the ground and the guy in the Wal-Mart parking lot smashed him or her. OK so it was a Beetle about the size of a dime. BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN A WINNEBAGO. So that was traumatic RIGHT! Well last night about 9:30 I was standing at the back door and I turned on the back flood lights and in the yard was a animal about the size of a cat. Well it turned around and looked me eye to eye and low and behold it was Pepe La Pew....... Oh C**P I shouted (very softly) and he turned around threw his or her tail in the air and......................................... Walked away. Phew I said to myself I was happy I didn't have to say PU...... OK so that's the latest.

Today Shelia had a procedure done that involved the use of a CAMERA and she is 100% fine........ Pictures to follow if anyone finds it necessary... Just kidding

Brianna Update

2009-07-11T19:09:00.002-05:00

Lee and I took the different tops to Bree today. She says to tell everyone "Hello". She was very happy to see us but could not wait for us to leave so she could get back to new friends. She is doing great. Her room probably would not have passed the room inspection but it was very good for Bree. We are asking for prayers now that the TRC can put together a program for her it is about time that things start working out for her.

Bummer

2009-07-10T09:21:00.002-05:00

When we were in California Brianna went on a shopping spree and got herself a bunch of tops and pants for the TRC. The tops are cute peasant type tops. Well she just called and said they will not let her wear them because some of her bra strap shows and they think they are a little to low cut !!?? Dad and I though they were fine but anyway we will need to take a trip out to TRC tomorrow afternoon and take her some t-shirts. She can wear t-shirts as long as there is no "bad" writing on them. So road trip tomorrow afternoon.

Brianna

2009-07-09T16:12:00.002-05:00

Lets see she has called three times today. This morning after breakfast to let us know what she had and that she was on her way to class, at 3:15 to say she was done for the day, lots of testing and then she just called to say she passed her room inspection. She was a happy camper.

Pics of the TRC

2009-07-08T17:37:00.003-05:00

Click on them and they will get bigger......

http://picasaweb.google.com/LeeandShe.Brandt/TRC#

If you click on the LINK above you will see the same pictures with Captions... (I Think) LoL

We are back from TRC

2009-07-08T16:50:00.003-05:00

We left @ 7:23 this morning and got back @ 4:38. The center had concerns about Bree mobility and her memory (go figure she had a brain injury). Anyway they asked if we would stay fro a few extra hours just to make sure she was doing ok. So of course we did. We are disappointed because we found out that they do not have an opening right now if everything goes well with this evaluation then it could be 2 to 3 months before she gets into the program.
For anyone who would like to send her a card or note her address is:

Brianna Brandt room#214
c/o Joanna Landurm, TBI Unit
Tennessee Rehabilition Center
460 9th Ave.
Smyrna, TN 37167

If you want to send her a card do it soon she will only be there until next Friday the 17th

It was hard saying good bye but I know the Lord will watch over her.

Here is her schedule for the next two days, she will not get next week's schedule till Friday.
8:15 Physical Therapy Assessment
9:00 Vocational Assessment
10:00 to 10:15 break
10:00 Occupational Therapy Assessment
11:00 TBI Education
11:45 Lunch
1:00 Meeting Dr Glenn Psychological Assessment
2:00 Vocational Assessment again
3:15 Testing done for the day

8:15 Vocational Assessment
9:00 Speech Assessment
10: to 10:15 break
10:15 Vision Assessment
11:00 TBI Support Group
11:45 Lunch
1:00 OT/PT Assessment
2:00 Break
2:15 Leisure Skills
3:15 Testing done for the day

She is going to be one busy little lady.
Lee will post some pictures.