Keeping up the work

     Last night had a real rough start for Amaya and me. We got everything done and her in bed by seven thirty. Regardless of how sleepy and tired she was she was in and out of sleep for about three hours. She had so much pain; mostly in her knee and foot. Her toes were numb and hurting her so intensely. Night pain is so much worse than the day time pain. Amaya cried and moaned while I rubber her knee, foot and toes. Somewhere between ten and eleven she finally started to get some good sleep. And as I started to sleep I heard Lidie crying down the hall. I ended up falling asleep in Lidie's bed until this morning when both girls woke up. Both girls wanted me to be with them, right next to them, but not with each other. I was exhausted and torn. How could I be in two places at once? And no matter how much dad tried to help, neither one wanted him. Eventually Amaya calmed down and went upstairs with dad. She settled on the couch while dad got ready for work and I got Lidie ready for the day.  By the time Lidie and I came upstairs Amaya had calmed herself.
   Amaya had a dental appointment before physical therapy. She had a small cavity that needed to be taken care of before it got bigger. Me and Lidie walked her back and I helped transfer her onto the dental chair, then Lidie and I waited out front for her. When she was done I went back to help her back into her wheelchair. The dentist said she did excellent. He said she's his best patient, he's always said that about Amaya. He said that she told him about her new shoes, therapy and how she was doing. He was genuinely happy for her. Then I filled him in on all her progress. He congratulated her on all her hard work and progress. We had an hour to kill so we ran some errands then we headed over to physical therapy. On the way over I felt bad for her; not only did she have knee pain, but her mouth was numb and sore too. This girl doesn't get a break. Once we got to physical therapy they told us that we had missed our appointment. Apparently the time was changed several weeks before when we added all of our other appointments, but I wasn't told that the time had changed. I was frustrated. We went down the hall to scheduling to see if Melissa or anyone else had a cancellation and could squeeze Amaya in today. The lady paged Melissa for us, who sent Kim in (the intern that works with her) to work with Amaya today. I was so thankful that they made time for Amaya. Physical therapy is so crucial now and missing appointments isn't in Amaya's best interest. Since Kim is an intern we had to stay in the same room as Melissa (she was working with her next appointment), so we worked in the adult gym today. Kim congratulated Amaya on her hard work over the weekend and her huge improvement yesterday. I told her everything Amaya did over the weekend and she was proud of Amaya. She massaged Amaya's knee and then had her walk around the gym. When she walked she didn't use the walker, just held on to Kim's hands and finger. Kim could tell a big improvement in Amaya's walking. Amaya even took a few steps on her own! I pushed Lidie around in Amaya's wheelchair. During knee bends Amaya got 93 on her first bend, then 101 (wow! what a jump) then 102 on her last bend. On each bend Amaya held her knee for a count of thirty. Kim said to continue to hold the bends for a count of thirty. She said that the long holds help Amaya get the big numbers that she needs. She encouraged us to keep up our work at home. Which we are. Today after she worked on her homework from school we did our physical therapy homework. We did bends, stretches, and strengthening work then did massages on her foot and knee. We'll do more stretches before bed when we lock the bar in for the night followed by more massages. But, at least we didn't have to make dinner tonight, Josh's mom made us some. It's always nice when people make us food; one less thing to think about and do.

Amaya riding around the house on her sit down scooter (I forgot what its called) that her grandparents bought her awhile ago. I'll try to get a better picture of her on there. 

Amaya getting ready to walk at physical therapy today.

Amaya walking. She did a really good job of keeping her left leg straight and the knee straight.