Britney Moved

Hi everyone,
Britney moved yesterday to Malley skilled nursing and rehab center. It's at 401 Malley Dr
Northglenn, CO 80233. Sorry for the long time between posts. There have not been many changes but Britney seems to be slightly more aware as time progresses. She looks at us when we talk to her a lot of times. She is more peaceful and relaxed the past few months. It is frustrating to not have much progress. That is why we haven't posted anything. Thank you all for asking about her and how she is doing. Your support mean so much, and is very very appreciated. Britney moved last night. Her social security disability and long term care was approved and she was sent to the first facility that accepted her. It is ok but we are trying to find one that is closer and better. There was nothing we could do about it. The places we had looked at before that we liked were full and we didn't have time to find a new place before she had to be moved. In the mean time Britney will need a lot of people to visit her because it is much farther from home and close family won't be able to come as often. Casey and Jana have seen Britney make some improvements recently that are encouraging and will post their stories soon. I didn't want to tell them second hand. Even though progress is slow she is improving. I don't know what her future will be but we thank you for all of your continued support.
John

more aware the last few days

Britney has been more aware the last few days. When her Dad visited her a few days ago she was awake the whole time and he thought he saw a smile a few times when he was talking to her. My mom visited a few days later and was really excited because of the emotion on Britney's face when she was talking to her. She thought she saw a few smiles, and when she told her she had to leave Britney frowned. Even though progress is slow it is still progress. Even though we don't know her prognosis and can't even begin to really guess what it might be, we have strong peaceful feelings whenever we are afraid or doubt she will get better. I don't know what any of it means except to keep moving forward and showing her as much love as possible and giving her as much human contact as possible. Thank you for you continuing support and love.

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone,
Merry Christmas. There haven't been any changes, and not any change in Britney's progress so I haven't put in an update on the blog in a while. Britney is still in a coma with brief periods of awareness where she will blink if we ask if she can here us or when she will look at us. She is more awake. Her progress has been very slow and her neurologist has asked me if he could consult a coma specialist from Cornell. She is six months out and since her progress is slow her doctors are not very hopeful but she is still making progress. We still have a very strong peace that she will come back but her progress is completely unknown at this time. If there are any new updates I promise we will put them on the blog right away.

The best news we have is that the kids finally got to visit Britney on Christmas. They haven't been able to see her for 2 months because Kindred banned visitors under age 18 from November to March because of the H1N1 flu virus. We have asked many people to make an exception but have not been able to get one until Christmas when I ran into the infectuous disease doctor who asked me how the kids were doing. I told him how much they missed Britney and he said since they had their flu shot they could visit her again. Jonas cried and said it was the best Christmas present ever. He has been saving his money so Britney can go to a hospital where they would allow kids to visit. Britney followed us around the room with her eyes. She was very peaceful and relaxed.
We are still going through the process for social security disability and guardianship. We have a court date in January and after that we will hopefully be able to move her to a skilled nursing facility. For now she is still at Kindred in Denver. When she moves we will update the blog right away.
Thank you all for the incredible kindness you have shown our family over the Christmas season. We are overwhelmed at all you do. Thank you. Merry Christmas.
John

Happy Thanksgiving

I got the best Thanksgiving ever. My team told me last minute to go home for the weekend and I was able to spend a few days with Britney and the kids!! I bought one of the last available plane tickets the day before I left. I didn't think I would be able to visit for 3 more weeks with how busy my rotations have been. It was amazing. When I walked into Britney's room She was awake. I asked her if she could hear me to blink her eyes. She did right away. I asked her 4 more times to blink if she could understand me and she did right away each time. I walked around her bed and she followed me with her eyes. She made a sound but didn't move her lips. She was really comfortable. Jonas, Vera, and Anna were a blast. They had so much fun. They have really missed Britney. Because of the H1N1 the aren't allowed to visit Britney for the past 4 weeks. They cry a lot about not being able to see her and missing her. They are very resilient and are still happy. We have a meeting with social security disability tomorrow. Hope and pray it goes well so Britney can continue to get the care she needs. Thank you for all of your comments on the blog and her facebook. I read them to her when I'm able to visit. I am so thankful to all of you for your continued love and support. It means so much to all of us. I was able to meet Elder Scott, an apostle of our church, a few days ago. He was so kind, and was able to give me a blessing. He took time to meet with me even though he was in town visiting his family. He said he will keep Britney's name on the temple prayer roll of the apostles for a long time. I'll never forget it. Britney has a lot of people who are thankful to her for who she is and the amazing mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend she is. It was a very emotional week for many people. Thank you all again.

John

Hi everyone. Just a quick update. There was a little confusion with how I wrote the last post. Unfortunately Britney hasn't talked yet. I said hi to her and she looked at me. She has made sounds but hasn't talked yet. She has been much more responsive though. Her curtains were opened up a few days ago and she opened her eyes and looked all around the room like she was figuring out where she was. When people talk to her she looks at them. Her therapy is going better since she got her baclofen pump.

Britney is waking up more

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your patience between posts. I was able to go to Colorado last week after being up post call and flew home the next day. It was amazing to see Britney, and to be with our kids. Britney woke up when I came in her room and said hi and looked right at me. A few days ago she was stretching her arms and head. She has been more awake and looking at people when they talk to her. She has made some sounds but hasn't said anything yet. She is still at Kindred because we are not able to find a skilled nursing facility that will take her because of insurance issues. We are working with a lawyer to help her qualify for social security disability for nursing home care and to work with our insurance to cover her at Kindred until she can find a skilled nursing place that will accept her. In the mean time she has continued to get great physical therapy and become more responsive the past few weeks. She will be at Kindred until we get this figured out. We will post as soon as she goes to a new hospital with directions for all of you wanting to visit. Thank you for all of your support and prayers and birthday messages for Britney.

Happy Birthday Britney

Britney is 28 today. She was really sleepy this whole last week but has been awake a lot of the morning. I got to tell Her happy birthday and she blinked a lot when I was talking to her. I miss her so bad today. Lots of her friends have been wishing her happy birthday on her facebook account. Vera was sick last night and can't make it to the hospital to tell her mom happy birthday. Jonas is going to come with Casey. We may have to do a cake another day. Even though her recovery is slow she is recovering. Every time I get discouraged I get a really strong peaceful feeling she will make a full recovery, that she wants to come back and will. She isn't suffering in pain anymore because of the baclofen pump which is such a great blessing. A great birthday present to not be in pain, and to be awake to know her family loves her.