Report card

    On Monday we had Amaya's second conference and got her report card. She got all "exceptional" on her report card except for a "good" on physical education. I was proud of her and happy to see how well she's doing. I was kind of surprised by how many days she missed compared to the first semester. During the first semester she missed 15 days of school and had 14 tardies. This semester she missed 39 days and was tardy 30 days. That means almost everyday she either arrived late, left early or was absent. In spite of that she still managed to do so well on her report card. That's great! During the first semester I scheduled most of her therapy appointments in the afternoon after school got out. But that proved to be hard because she wouldn't get home until after six then she would still have homework to do and get ready for bed. She was tired and worn out from a long day and a forty-five minute therapy session. During the second session we had less options for therapy times so I took what I could get, regardless of school hours. Although she missed a lot of school she still managed to get good grades and keep up with her school work. She works so hard not only at therapy but at school.
    On the drive to therapy I got a bit teary eyed. This is our last week of physical therapy. Can you believe it? After nearly a year (one week shy) of physical therapy we're almost done. I'm speechless. Honestly, I'm having a hard time putting words to my emotions. I'm trying to absorb it all and deal with it as best as I can. We're definitely going to miss seeing Melissa every day, but we'll be glad to be done. Amaya wrote a card for Melissa today. Later she said, "I forgot to say 'thank you for helping me get to this day.'" She realizes that she couldn't be where she is without Melissa. I realize that, and that means the world to me. I know how much Melissa has done for Amaya (tearing up). And this is where I usually stop, because its just so emotional. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Melissa was impressed with how much weights Amaya did when she met with Jay at her last session. So she had her wear a 3 lb. weight while she did her leg lifts. She said it started to hurt so Melissa massaged it then the pain went away and she continued with her lifts. Melissa was impressed with how well she did with that much weight.

When Amaya did these lifts Melissa said she was "doing great!" She could tell that Amaya was using the correct muscles to do her lifts. I told Melissa that when we do our nightly therapy we rotate our exercises but always do that stretch. It's really starting to make a difference.

Then she did side lifts.

Then we went in the hall to run. Amaya still needs a bit of work with that. To help Melissa has her do "high knees." She's able to go faster now and is doing good.

Then Amaya worked on skipping. She did a lot better this time. 

To work on balance Amaya had to stand on her left leg while touching the bean bags with her toes.

Then Melissa had her bend over to pick up the bean bags. She's still very wobbly so we've started doing hose at night as well. 

Amaya did her knee bends. Her starting measurement was 132! That's her highest number yet! That's huge when you realize that 135 degrees was her long term goal. And 135 degrees is what Melissa said is needed for walking, stair climbing, and running. She continued to bend until she got to 141 degrees. 

After knee bends Amaya did three minutes on the elliptical. Look at how smoothly she's going!

On the way out of town Amaya said, "Loma Linda is for helping people. they have hospitals, children's hospital, the Ronald McDonald house, PossAbilities, urgent care, the triathlon. It has a lot of stuff here to help people and lots of people who help you, like Melissa and Dr. Nelson."