UPDATES
August 2005 Update
Summer has brought many exciting activities and some big changes for Marla and her family. The weekend of July 23rd and 24th, Mary and Leo moved from their home of thirty two years in Glenwood Springs, to a new duplex in New Castle, Colorado. New Castle is about fifteen miles west of Glenwood Springs. Marla, Mary and Leo worked very hard to fix up the house for sale, and to down-size their belongings in order to fit into the new house. A garage sale helped them pare down, and accompanied by several weeks of hard effort to pack boxes, they completed the move. It has been an adjustment settling into a new house, but it is starting to feel more and more like home, and the house has less yard and infrastructure to care for on a constant basis. The family still has many boxes to unpack and a storage unit to clear out. Hopefully, once they are settled, Mary and especially Leo will have more time to pursue activities and hobbies. Marla was sad to leave her childhood home, but she likes the much larger bedroom and having her own bathroom at the new house. She continues to participate in activities with her friends in nearby Glenwood, including her sorority, swimming a few times per week at the Hot Springs Pool, volunteering at Valley View Hospital, as well as her continuing physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
Marla attended a two-week speech therapy program hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder Speech Sciences department. She lived on her own in the Kittredge dormitories for two weeks while attending the program (by coincidence, her room was located about five doors down from the second floor Arnett Hall room in which her brother Mark lived during his sophomore year at CU). It was a big step for her independence, since this was her first extended trip unaccompanied by family since her accident! She had fun getting to know her roommate Shannon, and had a great time going on evening and weekend outings with friends in the Denver area.
The July 4th weekend found the family visiting Marla’s grandparents in Montrose. Mary and Leo had a great time re-kindling ties with their fellow graduates of Ouray High School during an “All-Class” reunion in Ouray that weekend. Marla had fun visiting long-time friend Jenny Hart and her new daughter Mica. Marla and Mark also had fun on a hike in the mountains above Ouray. On another July weekend, Marla also went on a fun weekend outing with her sorority group to Durango, where the group had a great time shopping, dining, and spending time outdoors. In late July, Marla attended a weekend women’s challenge camp in Winter Park hosted by the National Sports Center for the Disabled. Activities included a bicycle ride, horse and carriage rides, rafting, and hiking. Marla drew some beautiful watercolor paintings of her experiences, which you can view in her photos section.
During a recent checkup, x-rays show that Marla’s right arm continues to heal nicely, and on-going treatments of botox in her right hand are helping to improve its flexibility and utility. She is getting very good at increasing her use of her right arm. Her speech continues to improve incrementally day-by-day, and she still surprises Mary and Leo regularly with new words. Her strength and endurance on her bicycle are getting much better–she is really able to power up the hills now, and she loves getting out for rides in the great outdoors, including several rides on the bike path in Glenwood Canyon.
Thank you for visiting and checking in on Marla. Her progress continues to amaze family and friends and we are so happy to have her in our lives. Feel free to leave a message, or visit the updated photos while you are here!