Even though Amaya's knee was hurting when she went to bed last night she was able to sleep throughout the night and had a good day. We only gave her pain meds before therapy and at bedtime. This morning I woke up to a very nice email from Dr. Nelson thanking me for my last email and telling me how proud of Amaya he is. He also gave us the link to the blog he had when he was in the Dominican Republic for five and a half years and that he still updates when he returns every few months to Haiti (for mission work). The link to his blog is curecaribe.blogspot.com if your interested in checking it out. It was neat to go back and read about his experiences there, and why he chose to come to Loma Linda when he did. We are so fortunate to have his expertise here so locally. I'm so grateful for a surgeon who not only provides Amaya with excellent care, but who genuinely cares about her. Amaya enjoyed hearing from him and that he was proud of her. Tonight she didn't have any pain at bedtime and has been sleeping well. Josh has this week off and has been able to go to therapy each day with us (which the girls love).
Amaya hasn't worked on this machine since her last surgery (her super knee in 2011). She had therapy for a few months after that surgery, but it wasn't as challenging as it has been this time around. Today she walked forward and backward five times. Each time she was pulling a 20 lb. weight. She did really well at it, and looked like Rocky to me, which she thought was cool.
Amaya worked on the total gym machine today. Melissa had her not only bending her knees, but straightening her legs completely as well. Both were a stretch and a workout for Amaya. Straightening is still a bit tough so we're continuing our stretches at home.
This is what Amaya's knee looks like now when its fully rested, its got some bend to it (more than a few weeks ago, but still doesn't fully bend on its own). Melissa did some stretches with Amaya while she sat on the drum.
Here's Amaya doing those stretches.
When Amaya went on the step to start her lunges, bends and knee bends she lost her balance and fell. Thankfully she rolled onto her back and didn't get hurt. Melissa was right next to her the whole time and tried to catch her. Ay-ay yay! That girl always keeps me on my toes; each fall scares me. She recovered quickly then went about the rest of her session without any complaints.
Amaya walked on the balance beam for the first time in a long time. I was quite surprised that she didn't fall at all. She walked forward and backward twice and didn't slip once.
Melissa was measuring Amaya's knee before we started bends. Her knee was at 49. Amaya had guessed 48, and I said somewhere between 48 and 52. We're both getting good at guessing what degrees her knee is bent to. Then she made a small scoot and was able to get up to 60 degrees. This is when I took the picture, as she scooted. You can tell by her face that it's a bit uncomfortable/borderline painful. After that she started her bends. She asked us to time her so I set the stopwatch on my phone. It took her three minutes and thirty seconds to get to 104 (that was her goal for today). That's great, especially since Melissa could tell that Amaya's knee was getting stiff toward the end of the bends. I'm so relieved that its only three minutes. A few weeks ago we spent almost half an hour everyday trying to get to ninety. It was tough, and I'm so glad that those days are behind us. Since Amaya is able to bend her knee in less time, that gives us more time to do more stretches with Melissa than before. Amaya has forty five minute sessions for therapy and now she's able to spend most of that time working on different things instead of bending.
Afterward Amaya swung into the ball pit to celebrate.
And of course Lidie did too!
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