'Status Quo....

It's been business as usual here at Crotched Mtn. Courtney has been trudging along in her daily therapies and things are progressing but at a more regular speed than previously experienced. This is bound to happen as she continues but it is somewhat disheartening for me to not see the speed with which she was gaining before. Things have leveled off so to speak and she is ready to move on to her next venture!
Our date of discharge now has been slated for March 14th with a review at that time of her status. Her Dad is up in Burlington today checking things out for Court so we will have a better idea of what's available there. It's Court's first choice to go back to her beloved Burlington so that's where we hope she lands!
To all who know me somewhat, I am saddened to say my Dad passed away this last Sunday and it's been quite hard on me. I find no time to grieve and it's been hard on Court too. She didn't get to see him this past year so she's been in a funk about that. Finding time to write on the blog is difficult with everything else going on but we will try to continue to add information as it becomes available.
To end on a happier note, there will be a benefit spaghetti dinner and auction Friday evening, March 7th at the Rockland, Maine Elks Lodge on Maverick St., I believe starting at 5:00 p.m. The auction starts around 6:30. I sincerely hope everyone who can will attend this yummy and fun event. Some very nice things have been donated so please tell people you know to come along and enjoy a great evening of food and fun for Courtney's benefit!! Thanks to everyone.
Much love, Julie/mom

Meetings and Then More Meetings

Today was Courtney's updated care plan meeting with us, her therapists, case worker, Crotched Mountain reps, Vermont reps, etc. (next time we should hire a band and catering). The first half of the meeting covered Courtney's continued progress since her initial plan was created three months ago.

In speech therapy she's focused on higher learning cognitive tasks like keeping up with current events and researching topics of interests. She's also exercising her voice to project louder and more clearly. Courtney can hold conversations with familiar listeners and is working to have unfamiliar listeners understand her better.

In occupational and physical therapy she is still making great leaps, using an enlarged keyboard to type a few small words, walking up and down stairs faster and fully dressing herself. We've seen the benefits of her having one-on-one attention from therapists, we owe the whole team a debt of gratitude.

While she's made so much progress, the consensus came that she is not fully ready for outpatient therapy quite yet. The hard work she's putting in at the mountain is too valuable to risk losing without a clear plan to move forward, a plan that's still being developed.

The second half of the meeting concerned discharge planning, an issue that seems to grow more complex each day. Her current insurance provider is determined to drop Courtney's coverage as soon as possible, pressuring us to take her funding source into account, not solely her rehabilitation and quality of life.

We've applied through a Vermont provider and they've been very helpful, however being covered means she'll likely be moved to a Vermont facility immediately. The options with the appropriate therapy for Courtney would be in Montpelier, which we have a meeting with on March 7, and Rutland (or Rut Vegas to Court), which Doug toured yesterday and may or may not be in the mix.

Nothing has been set in stone, we are hoping her insurance holds up so Courtney can continue doing what she does best: kicking ass.

-Sean

The Lucky Garter Girl: Greenfied Wedding Photos

.

uploaded by SeanCooley.

Court caught the bouquet at Brenda's wedding at the Greenfield house. Great food, cake, booze and dancing. Click on the picture above or visit the link to see the photo gallery for the event.

AWSOME Waldoboro "Support" Concert!!

Courtney's Maine connection of supporters came out last night to attend a double header! Two bands played for a great group of people who came to enjoy some really good music and dance! The Waldo Theatre was filled with a lot of familiar faces and some new faces as well. The bands encouraged everyone who wanted to come out and dance. The first band to play was a great bluegrass/ragtime/folk-rock group called the Toughcats. The three members are from North Haven Island, Maine and played a great set. They had the house's attention from their first song and continued to command the attention of everyone! I yelled for an encore but to no avail.
The second band was the Pickled Beats, with a cast of four, playing a wide variety of classic rock songs. They were too good to sit still for, so many got up and "cut the rug" including myself! The place was well attended but I don't have an offficial headcount yet. I will post it as soon as I find out. The whole event was preceeded by dinner at the local Narrows Tavern with a portion of proceeds from dinner there going to Support for Courtney. A local art gallery, the Tidemark Gallery donated 20% of all sales for that day to the fund as well!
A basket was placed in the entrance for donations to help defer the cost of boarding my horses. People dug deep into their pockets for that as well.
All in all, it was a great success. The hard work and effort that was put into organizing and hosting this event was evident and very much appreciated. Thank you so much to everyone who participated, from the organizers,to the bands and to the people who came and showed their support for Courtney! And to the people who couldn't come.........you missed a really fun time!!
Love, Julie/Mom

Adaptive Snowboard Round 2

.

Things have been busy up on the mountain lately, our new friends in Greenfield had a 60-person wedding in their house last night and we're going to a Manchester Monarchs hockey game tonight. I finished editing the video of Court's last snowboard trip. She kept her strength up all day, riding down the length of the mountain four times with three spotters, Doug and myself following along.

Hope everyone found a Valentine yesterday or at least had a few chalky "I Love You" candies. I got Court flowers and chocolates, she gave me a big pair of chocolate lips. We danced at the wedding and she muscled her way to catch the bouquet.

Courtney's care plan meeting has been bumped up to this Wednesday, we'll talk about the her progress in therapy and next steps then.

-Sean

Winter Festival and Fundraising

We raised $1,127 for Courtney. The Winter Festival fundraiser was a success. We would like to thank the CDAE at the University of Vermont, Accent Travel, Summer University, Stone Works, UVM Athletics, and everyone involved with the fundraiser. Cyrus and Ann win the salesman/woman trophy. Thanks again to all those who sold tickets and stood in the cold.

I was there for most of the day, which was perfect for a Winter Festival (take a look at the photos). There were a number of people who had read about Courtney in the Winter Festival Paper, or from the UVM Cycling Trainer Ride in the past couple weeks. That was wonderful to hear as well as all the people who shared stories of themselves or family members who suffered from a disease or illness. These conversations lasted anywhere from 5 seconds to a few minutes, but were very positive. People on the street passing by seemed more willing to donate after we quickly explained Courtney’s situation.

A woman who works at Healthy Living in S. Burlington won the plane ticket. She said she has never won anything like this before and was happy to donate to Courtney’s fund.

We’ll probably start the weekly meetings up again soon. If anyone is interested at hosting the meetings at their house that would be great, let us know. If anybody is interested in taking on an event or setting up a table in Burlington we have the coin buckets and displays for you to use.

-Jeff

Snowshoeing in Lieu of Boarding

Court's snowboarding trip has been postponed, but only until Tuesday, we've had some gross weather lately anyhow, sleet and freezing rain (nature's diarrhea). We made due by breaking out snowshoes from the recreational therapy department and had fun trudging around the baseball field at the mountain. Court had no trouble getting around, no falling either. I was previously a snowshoe virgin, I'd like to do it again sometime.

If you're in the Burlington area on Saturday, please visit our friends at City Hall Park and around Church Street. If there are still raffle tickets available, please buy one or tell a friend. And if you happen to find yourself with a beer in hand later that night, please drink it.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

-Sean

Winter Festival in Burlington, VT

The SFC will have a table down at City Hall Park during the Winter Festival in Burlington on February 9th. We’ll be there from 10am – 4 pm. A special thanks goes out to the University of Vermont, CDAE from UVM, UVM Athletics, Summer Univeristy and Accent Travel.

We’ll be selling raffle tickets for $5. The prizes are listed below on the poster. Feel free to stop by Saturday and help out or just say hi.

- Jeff

Triking the Mountain

.

Courtney spent a physical therapy session yesterday triking around the mountain. She had little trouble, needing only guidance from the therapist and she sported a smile for most of the ride. I'm happy that her therapists are constantly challenging Courtney and keeping things fresh with new activities and adapted toys like bikes and snowboards (next snowboarding trip is scheduled for Feb 8).

-Sean

24 Hour Trainer Riders Brought In the Bling $$$

With a coin drop sitting in front of their tent set-up and a table of flyers, stickers and posters, the UVM riders brought in over $700 for the Support for Courtney fund. Thats over $100 more than the projected outcome. Thanks UVM Cyclers for your effort and enthusiasm as well as your participation in the Support for Courtney cause.

Sooner or later Courtney will be out there with us, cruisin' around B-town and having a good time.

-Amber

Photos from the 24 Hour Trainer Ride

These are some of the hardworking individuals from the UVM Cycling team that donated their time, effort and leg strength. You may have seen these cyclists on the local Fox 44 News on Saturday evening! Thank you Mike Femia and to all who were involved and braved the cold and wind on Friday night and Saturday.

- Jeff

24 Hour Trainer Ride for Support For Courtney; Hosted by UVM Cycling

Today at 3:30 pm, the UVM Cycling team started setting up for their 24 hour trainer ride on Church St. The ride was organized and developed by Mike Femia and the team to raise money for Support For Courtney. Thanks to this courageous crew of cyclers and friends (its really really cold), a table with a coin drop, an informational poster, stickers and fliers will be on display for a full 24 hours raising awareness to everyone passing by. That just about covers it all; families, people going to and from work, people going out to for a good time and people coming back from a good time with an added stagger to their step.

We are so lucky to have such a great group to help us raise awareness to Burlington's public. If you are in the area, scoot down to the Burlington Square Mall where you will see a red Ski Rack tent with a bunch of riders in spandex and bikes set up all around. Bring something warm and some good cheer, because its going to be a bone-chilling 20 degrees tops. They will be there until approximately 4 pm tomorrow.

Keep an eye out for information on the Winterfest, February 9th, hosted by Lynn Gregory and her CDAE class working with Jeff Szatkowski.

More information on the Silent Auction, it is still happening, is soon to come as well. If you are expecting a t-shirt, don't worry, they are made and should be shipped out in the coming week. Things on the Support For Courtney front were put on hold temporarily due to Winter break and personal commitments, but is in full swing again.

I'll leave you with this tidbit of information . . . the cycling team really gets pumped when inspirational music is blasting, for example: The Final Countdown.

-Amber

Discharge from the Crotch (What a Gross Title)

We had about 15 people sitting in on today's meeting, all working toward achieving a recovered Courtney Blasius and planning for the day when she eventually rides off into the Crotched Mountain sunset. Here's a roundup from the agenda:

• Based on Courtney's progress thus far, each of her therapists saw a potential benefit in her continuing therapy at the mountain for at least for another month.
• Courtney's says she wants to work on becoming more independent while at Crotched Mountain, with goals of unassisted walking and dressing herself in the near future.
• Her destination of choice for outpatient therapy is Burlington, although we need to be sure any facility in the area can meet all of her needs (vision impairment, physical assistance, local therapy, comfortable living, etc.)
• Court's case manager is working with the insurance provider to allow her stay at the mountain to continue. We're still awaiting approval from Vermont Medicaid, changing providers may alleviate some time restraints on her rehab.

We'll await word on the insurance, in the meantime everything is great in New Hampshire. No one could have a assembled a more caring, helpful and knowledgeable support team. I'm glad everyone liked the snowboard video (she stayed on her feet the entire time, Lindsey Jacobellis is jealous) I'm sure there'll be more ridiculousness in the weeks to come.

-Sean

Adaptive Snowboarding

I've edited together a video clip from our day of snowboarding on Friday. Courtney had great stamina, riding down the bunny slopes for three runs. If we can get her into the rotation for the adaptive snowboard program, she could take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain next time, perhaps in early February.

Another full day of therapies tomorrow and then looking forward to our meeting with Crotched's staff on Tuesday.

-Sean

Week in Review

.

Some of the highlights from last week in no particular order:

On Wednesday Court had a routine heart appointment with Dr. Kim from Catholic Medical Center. She had an echocardiogram performed and the prognosis was that her heart looked healthy.

My parents came up to New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon, we took a trip to neighboring Peterborough after dropping off supplies of Stephen King novels and bootlegged DVDs to the house. Peterborough is definitively a quaint town, about twenty minutes from the mountain and at least 50 miles away from the nearest shopping mall or Wal-Mart (I am beside myself without a localized area to buy useless crap). We had lunch at a pub called Harlow's, good Mexican food and good beer. My parents were really impressed with how strong and mobile Courtney's become, they last saw her at Spaulding which seems like eons ago.

With instructions from Dr. Robinson, the neuro-optometrist, and Crotched's vision therapist we've developed some tantalizing eye exercises for Ms. Blasius. A few involve moving a penlight in front of Court's face and challenging her to follow with her eyes and not move her head. Playing ball is another productive activity, having her catch or intercept balls as they are rolled toward her or across a table.

Courtney's had a strong week in therapy, she's has been walking close to a mile throughout the day with less support and guidance. She's working wonders with the speech therapists to adjust the pitch and tone of her voice. She's slowly better able to dress and undress herself and becoming coordinated with her left hand.

We're looking forward to adaptive snowboarding tomorrow, as long as tonight's snow and freezing rain clear up in time.

The next meeting with the Crotch's therapy team will be on the 22nd to discuss Court's progress and eventual discharge into an outpatient care. We're not positive where that facility may be yet, likely in Vermont or perhaps Maine, she said she wants to go home to Waldoboro for a week or two before starting outpatient rehab. A group living facility anywhere near Burlington may be a good fit if she can get appropriate therapy and return to her social life.

Below are a few scenes from the mountain and the Greenfield house, Reese is the clingy but lovable housedog and the crystals are dagger-like icicles that spill off the house (they remind me of Superman's fortress of solitude).









-Sean