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