Thursday night

When you need this hospital, it is the best place to be.  But it is also such a hard place to be because of all the sad things that are happening to all the children around you. It seems like you are confronted with tragic circumstances everywhere you look.  Hannah's starting to really struggle with the emotional side of seeing sad things every day.  She's so compassionate and tender hearted that it's extra hard for her I think.  One of the kids across from us is having a hard time tonight and she would like nothing more than to go over there and comfort him.  I'm glad she has empathy but I think it's taking it's toll.
Speech is starting to work with Hannah on memory issues. I think it's getting a little better but her short term memory is still hit and miss.  At least she no longer gets upset when someone happens to mention the word "stroke." So I know things are improving but now she KNOWS she can't remember things and that's frustrating.  But I guess that's a step above not remembering and not knowing you're not remembering-ha ha She has started saying to people, "mmmm I don't remember that-I have amnesia."  Today the speech therapist was doing some exercise with her to see what her long term memory was like.  She was firing off these random questions and Hannah was supposed to answer them quickly.  The therapist said, "name a U.S. president whose name starts with J." Apparently Hannah couldn't think of one so she blurts out-"Trump-he's a JERK!.. . . Does that count?"  ha ha The lady just started laughing.  So at least we know her memory is still intact as far as her feelings for Trump-ha ha
Tomorrow they have a parent hour.  It's where someone comes and talks about their experiences while they were at Primary's.  Tomorrow it's a mom who is talking about the recovery of her son who had very similar problems to Hannah's,  although his was a traumatic brain injury.  But the therapists told me he went through this whole memory thing too, and he has made a good recovery.  So I'm anxious to hear what she has to say, and I hope we can also meet her son.  I think Parent Hour is such a good thing, just to give people some hope.  Today in physical therapy, some mom was in there with a teenage daughter who looked about how Hannah looked three weeks ago.  I so wanted to go and hug that sad mom and tell her that it will get better.  When things seem so desperate, it's easy to lose hope. And that's not a good place to be.  So hopefully we will get to know that mom and daughter and be able to talk to them.