IM OH SO EXCITED I FELT REALLY GOOD OUT THERE, I THINK I’LL BE A GOOD DRIVER. I THINK I WILL RESPECT THE RULES OF THE ROAD AND NOT HAVE ANY ACCIDENTS. I THINK I FINELY FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH IT AND AM NOT SCARED ANYMORE. MY DAD SAYS I NEED TO WORK ON STAYING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD. I DON’T KNOW WHY I KEEP DRIFTIN OVER BUT THAT SHOULD GET WORKED OUT SHORTLY.

Beth

Dad here: Yes, today was Beth’s 1st practice at driving.  For the most part she did well.   Once reason Beth never learned to drive is she could never get over the fear of 2000 pound weapon.  It used to scare the heck out of her.  Since her accident that fear appears to be gone. Beth drives like a brand new driver and does the typical mistakes new drivers make.  For instance, she has to look down to use the turn signal and she wasn’t sure which way to push it when making turns.  She also had some issues with the pedals, using the gas for the break and vice versa, although that only happened twice.

We did some panic stops and the 1st one took her a good 1.5 seconds before she responded, but each additional one she got quicker and quicker.

And for some reason, even when going straight, she drifts, rather quickly, over to the left side.  Although near the end of the 30 minute session she did so less frequently.

Parking.  Wellllllllll, that’s going to require lots of work, either that or the city’s going to have to increase the size of all the parking spots!  We tried parking to the left and to the right, and she doesn’t have the feel for the car yet so normally she parked very close to the left line.  We also tried backing into a parking space and she got it right in the middle!…..of two spaces. LOL!  We had a good laugh at that.

So on the way home we talked about it and joked about it and had setup a joke to tell as we entered the door so Sandy could hear.  (That’s the one she typed at the start of this blog)

We also decided to add a few pictures to make the joke complete.  Enjoy.

It’s pizza!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas with ALL our kids here in Spokane so I thought I’d share a quick note.

** Update: 10:52 AM: Just talked with the Anesthesiologist and they said that Dr. Martz has completed putting the skull in (they use screws and small plates, my Dad said to make sure she doesn’t have any “loose screws”..what a guy!) and it should be another 30 to 45 minutes.

Bethany is at the hospital today to have her skull placed back into her head.  She is in great spirits (as usual) and made everyone laugh.  The anesthesiologist in particular thought she was halarious.

One of the nurses that was putting in the IV into her arm was telling Beth how she wants to have a mullett done to her hair (We were talking about Beth wanting to wear her mohawk) and Beth said, “What? A mullett?  That’s from the 80′s and that’s where they should stay!”.  Broke everyone up.

I’m currenlty sitting in the hospital cafeterria but am heading back up to the waiting room.  They started on Beth at 9:13 AM  and so far everything is going along great.  I will report back as I get news.

Thanks to all of you folks that are praying for Beth, we greatly appreicate it.

Mooter Family.

Here’s some pictures of her just before she went into surgery:

Bethany continues to improve both mentally and physically.  Her short term memory is slowly getting better and almost daily we see improvement in it.

Physically she appears to be doing well, her left foot has improved (was not able to pull it up) but she continues to need her brace when going on walks as the foot tires quickly.

Bethany is scheduled to have her skull reinserted on November 2nd which we are all looking forward to as it should take a load off the family in having to be so vigilant.  (***Update from Sandra (She left this in the comments but I thought it should be here):

A quick note from Mom here. Would really, really appreciate people’s prayers when the surgery roles around. It’s a bit scarey getting her head opened up again. Yes, it will be a great relief to have her brain protected by her skull finally and ditch the helmet! The Dr. reminds us, any surgery carries risks and we are praying and trusting God to have the same big strong angels on duty that caught her when she fell off the bike! Praying against all infections, bugs and viruses as well. Last time around she got some staff and other nasty critters. Believing God that none of the gains that she has made will be lost. There will be not going backwards in Jesus name!
Final word is our complete trust and confidence is in Yahweh as before and always. To God be the GLORY for all His kindesses and for baring His mighty right arm on Bethany’s behalf. Oh, how He loves her….

We do have a lot of fun with Beth in regards to her short term memory.  The other day I was talking very seriously to her about how hard she’s been working and how she will need to really dig in to get to the next level.  I think I was going into my coaching mode and sort of forgot that I should keep it short.  So as I came to the end of my “coaching moment” she looked puzzled and asked, “What were we talking about?”  We all just laughed and hugged her. So funny.

Beth will occasionally, “get stuck” (is what we call it) on a particular subject, sometimes all day.

I think it was last weekend she came up with a thought that she’d like to look into be coming a nurse.  She was out walking with Sandy, so naturally Sandy encouraged her to look into it and to see what it would take to become one.  Well during the entire walk, the ride home, and the rest of the day, every few “seconds” Beth would say, “I think I’d like to be come a nurse.  How do I start?”  No matter what Sandy did to try and get her re-directed to another subject she’d always come back to, “I think I’d like to be come a nurse.  How do I start?”.

Needless to say, when I got home Sandy was ready for a break.  Later that night it was time for me to sleep next to Beth and sure enough she asked, “I think I’d like to be come a nurse.  How do I start?”.  I was trying to be very patient with her and would answer with the typical thing of needing school etc etc, but it soon got challenging.  What’s funny is she was listening to a story, and for 1 or two minutes she would listen and then ask about nursing again.  I would comment that she needed to concentrate on the story as she was “stuck” on the nursing thing.  She always apologies, then goes quite, and again ask.

So I thought what could I get her to think about that would totally get her mind off that particular track.  I asked her to think about one of our vacations in Florida where she got to ride on the back of the scooter with Nate as we rode all over Key West.  I reminder her of the wonderful Key Lime pie we had and some of the other fun things.

I went back to listening to my story and thought I had solved it….nope, about 3 minutes later she ask, “I think I’d like to be come a nurse.  How do I start?”.  Sigh….

So I asked her to think about the most fun she’d ever had in her life and she immediately said, “Oh, ridding trains!”  That pretty much did it!  I think she asked once or twice more, but I’d put her back on “track” (HA! Pun intended) and I think she went to sleep thinking about her great times of jumping trains from one coast to the next.  I know she thinks fondly of those times, but they were some of the worst times from Mom and Dad!

Since I haven’t done much in the way of info on Beth, I’ll put up a few pictures of some of the fun she’s had:

Beth’s BIRTHDAY!!!  WOOHOO!  Well, as you would guess, we were very excited to be celebrating Beth’s birthday this year.  The down side is she doesn’t remember it at all.  But we have pictures and video’s and have written it down in her memory book so she can at least look back and read about it.

She had many friends over and many of them called, sometimes multiple times a day! (Thanks Erica!)  There was a tea party, gifts from so many of her friends, Grandma came up from Boise and spent a number of days here with her, and Nate and Jamie came over from Seattle and spent the weekend with Beth.  Her Grandpa called from Florida and again asked her to come down there to bask in the sunshine and swim in his pool.  ”Neon Leon” called from Vegas, and I know I’m forgetting so much, but so many wonderful folks came and made a memorable (HA!) time for Beth.  Oh! And GREAT FOOD! Thanks Rach!

Enjoy the pictures! (I don’t have all of them and will try and put more up later)

Beth continues to improve.  Her short term memory is still short, but does seem to be improving.  We had a speech therapist work with Beth (and Rach) and the technique he showed us appears to help a great deal.  I believe it’s called “Open Air”, something like that, and basically you tell Beth what you want her to remember and have her repeat it.  Then leave off the last word and have her repeat everything.  But don’t let her guess, or she’ll remember the wrong thing.  (I’m probably not explaining it correctly)  But the bottom line it helps.  I came hope after the 1st session and Rach asked Beth what’s wrong with you head?  And with no hesitation, she said, “I have a traumatic brain injury”.  After picking myself up from the floor, Rach asked her how’d she get it?  And Beth again answered with no hesitation, “From a bike accident”.  That may not sound like a big deal but it is!  I was so excited!  Now it’s not always that easy and we’ve done test like that again and didn’t get the same results but it shows she’s improving.

We’ll have a big challenge for Beth this weekend as we head to Seattle to attend my son’s wedding, (Woohoo!)  The challenge will be all the stimulus and how to minimize it and where to take her when (not if) she gets a headache.  (Oh, and these headaches are not your run of the mill, “gee my head hurts”.  It’s can’t move, feet shuffling bent over POWER headaches!  And get me to a couch quick!  So, that’s going to be tough.

But bottom line, she’s great!

In general Bethany is doing great.  She takes 2 walks (or more) a day around the neighborhood, does speech, occupational, and physical therapy multiple times a day, and many other things that help to stimulate her brain.  She loves to laugh and keeps us in stitches through out the day with her clever sayings.

She still is having issues with her left foot and we are working very hard to help her get the ability to pull her foot up.

Here’s a video of Bethany and Terry Jett drawing; (Click here)

Another one of Bethany Poppin-n-Lockin: (Click here)

Here’s some pictures: Everyone covering their noses because of Rachael’s home made sauerkraut,smells bad, taste GREAT!  Cassie helping Bethany to flex her left foot.  Rach, Cass & I after running the UDistrict 5K, WOOHOO!  Beth reading.  Beth posing with potatoes from our garden. Beth, Jeff & Savannah doing the tough pose.

“My family tells me I have amnesia. I don’t remember how I got it or why I’m here. They say I had a bike accident. It boggles my mind that simply falling off my bike could damage me so seriously. They are such simple unassuming contraptions. The thought of my all time favorite past time damaging me to such a point breaks my heart. I don’t want to connect such an awful thing to a wondrous bike.”

More to come later as her short term memory is ah….short term.

Thank you BETHANY!!! YOU RAWK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU JESUS!!!!