Antibiotics

     I was going to start last night's blog by mentioning that we were all done with Amaya's antibiotic, but we had to start a new round today. I didn't get to post last night because I had such a terrible migraine. I fell asleep as soon as I put the girls to bed. Last night when I was putting Amaya's new gauze on I noticed that there was some yellow drainage from her bottom pin. This is the same one that has been bothering her. It looked like it was starting to get infected so I emailed Dr. Nelson a picture of it to get his opinion. Even though he's in Baltimore he emailed me back last night saying that it wasn't that bad but that she should start a new round of antibiotics. I was a bit frustrated and sad that she has to start another round of antibiotics so soon, but I had to let that pass so that I could move on and go about the business of taking care of her. Those set backs are minor and I've learned to not let them bother me. Dr. Nelson emailed his nurse and another doctor so they could write a prescription for Amaya. His nurse took care of it and the prescription was filled by noon. I'm so thankful for Dr. Nelson and Nadine's help. They always are helpful, kind and efficient. 

    Wednesday night was bit of a rough night for Amaya. It wasn't as bad as the past couple of days but she still cried, moaned and whined a lot. Last night was better, but still not good. When Amaya woke up yesterday Josh told her that September was almost here and that meant that she would be getting her fixator off  in about two months. Guess what she said?! "Can't it be four more?" We were surprised by her reaction. She said that she was scared. Later I talked with her about it and she said that she was afraid if it would mean another surgery, she wondered how they take off the fixator, what it would feel like, does she have to stay in the hospital? I told her that we could ask Dr. Nelson those questions at our next appointment. She was very happy about that and asked me to ask him the next time we see him. I reminded her that her fixator friend Alison offered to answer those questions for her too. Thank you Alison for your willingness to help! 

    On the way to therapy I realized that I forgot to give Amaya her pain meds before therapy the day before. She said that was okay, but that she would need them for yesterday. Amaya had her session wit Jay because we had to reschedule Amaya's session and Melissa was booked. Melissa came over and said  hello to Amaya and gave her a high five to encourage her. Amaya only had thirty minutes scheduled with Jay, but he came out a few minutes early to give her extra time. She worked hard and did her best. When it was time for bends she had a hard time focusing and staying motivated. She took five minutes to get to ninety degrees. I had prepped her that Melissa wouldn't be there for bends and that she would have to cooperate with me. I was proud of her for working hard and doing her best. I was happy that she got ninety degrees even without Melissa.  I was thankful that Jay gave her those extra ten minutes (ten minutes is a big deal when it comes to therapy).  

   Today when I told Lidie that it was Josh and my anniversary (nine years!), she said, "oh no. I don't want to go back to Amaya's doctor! What does she have to get now?!" I had to explain that an anniversary is not a surgery, but just the day we got married. She's very protective of Amaya and hated the thought of her having another surgery. But she was okay that I had married Josh and gave me permission to marry him again.

Jay had Amaya do ten bends on the total gym machine. Then he measured where her knee was. It was at forty-five degrees. Then she bent her knee and held it for a count of thirty. She was able to get it up to fifty degrees just by holding it those thirty seconds! 

After some bends just using her left leg she was able to get her knee to bend to sixty degrees!

Next Amaya worked on this machine. Jay asked how much she weighs (about forty-seven pounds) then put thirty pounds on the machine for her to pull. She did pretty good. She reminded me of Rocky working on that machine.

The second time she did it she had forty pounds on the machine. As she worked we noticed Lael's son working on his therapy. It's always nice to see a friendly face. One of the therapists helped Lidie get a cup for water and she was so happy. "Wow. That's so nice!" 

Next Jay dropped the weights down to twenty pounds so that she could walk sideways with them. 

This is the picture of Amaya's bottom pin that I emailed to Dr. Nelson. It's not that bad, but you can see some yellowish stuff, that it's raised, and that it's pink. 

The girls swinging at a park. Amaya tried to swing her legs to make herself go, but it didn't quite work. Since her left leg wasn't bending as much as the right one it made it difficult for her, but that didn't stop her from trying. 

If you look closely you can see the top of Amaya's head peeking out behind the white bars. She tried climbing up the slide, and she did it! Although she did freak me out a bit. 

As the sprinklers came on the girls decided to have some fun and get wet. Luckily I always carry extra clothes in the car.