September 29, 2012

Front page news

    At therapy yesterday Melissa put new tape on Amaya's knee as we updated her on our appointment with Dr. Nelson. She said that when you get a rush rod put in you're able to weight bear pretty soon, within days. She said that Dr. Nelson will decide how soon Amaya will start physical therapy again. She said he might give her a month off before she starts up again or have her start up pretty soon after the fixator removal. We'll just wait and see.
   After the new tape Melissa bent Amaya's knee sixty times then had her ride the scooter, do some squats on the total gym machine, climb up and down on the ladder, then start bends. Melissa noticed that Amaya's knee wasn't as stiff as it was the day before. Amaya's knee was at forty-eight degrees to start. She worked hard and was able to get up to ninety degrees in just under two minutes.
    At the end of the appointment I went into the scheduling office to try to schedule Amaya's next appointments but the authorization hadn't been processed at that point so I wasn't able to. Ugh, man talk about frustrating. Josh seems to not be as bothered by it all. Maybe its his low key personality. He said its just part of the process and unless I get my MA in hospital administration and do some reform there's not much I can do. That just might be what I have to do, because there definitely needs to be some reform done.  For now I did what I could and made a call into Marilou who later in the day called me letting me know she got the authorization processed. She emailed me a copy of the referral and faxed it over the therapy office so they could process it. Hopefully they will do it on Monday and then I can schedule the next appointments.
   We had another rough night. Its taking Amaya hours to calm down and go to sleep. Ugh, these rough nights are draining. Its one part pain and discomfort, one part tired and one part emotional; whinny and crying from being worn worn out and ready for it all to be over with. Its hard to deal with it. It's at the end of the day and we're all tired and worn out. We know Amaya is in pain, but we know that once she can calm herself she's able to fall a sleep and stay out the rest of the night. Its hard to see her in pain and frustrating because no matter what we try nothing seems to be working. Ugh. Wish us luck. Hopefully this is just a phase and it passes soon.
Lidie was racing Amaya down the hall as Amaya rode the scooter.
Amaya rode into the adult gym to do squats.
Then Amaya and Melissa raced on the stools. 
Later Amaya played dress up with Lidie. She had so much fun and it was fun to see her be so silly.
As Josh and the girls wrestled Amaya decided to slide down Josh, but her fixator scratched his leg. Ouch! We've all been scratched, bumped and bruised by the fixator before, but this is the worst one yet.
My aunt found this picture of Amaya on the front page of the paper, the Chino Champion. Pretty cool, huh? It's from the basketball clinic she participated in last weekend with the Limb Connection. They raised $750 to send the kids to Camp No Limits next summer. 
I looked up the article online at www.championnewspapers.com. I found this and several other photos and the article. I like this shot a lot, its Arelle, Amaya and Joshua stretching. I love seeing the shoe lift, fixator and prosthetics all in line. I hope that as people see the article and pictures they can see past the shoe lift, past the fixator, and past the prosthetics to see kids who work hard and who live life to the fullest. I hope that others are inspired, motivated, and challenged by the strength, courage and resilience of these kids. They are amazing!

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