Friday morning I made another round of calls. Still no answers on any of the referrals. Finally I got a hold of someone who thought they were faxing the requests to the wrong number so I gave them the correct number. I'm trying to be patient because its during the holidays and many people are out of the office. They deserve a break and time off to be home with family.
We had therapy in the morning so we had to get up and get going. Not exactly fun during winter break. Amaya said she didn't want to go. She never says that. She said she wanted to stay and play with Lidie and her cousin Jude. On the drive down I reminded her why we go to therapy, that she's not the only one doing therapy, and that I was going too. Neither one of us got a day off. She was quiet for awhile then thanked me for going to therapy with her. I reminded her that this is a team effort: Dr. Nelson, Melissa, Josh, Lidie, myself and her are all working hard to help her. I told her that our friend Rory was going to have therapy that day and that she should think about her instead of herself. Rory is in pain and having a hard time with her recovery and therapy. Not to mention that she's only two years old. Amaya loves Rory and decided to work hard for her that day. She asked to listen to "the Eye of The Tiger to "pump me up!" Once we were in therapy Amaya did excellent! She worked hard, was focused, listened and cooperated.
Melissa had her start by balancing on this ball thing. Then she had her move her legs in to make it a bit more challenging.
Then Melissa had her squat with an exaggerated butt sticking out. Unless its was exaggerated Amaya couldn't get her posture and bend well.
Then Melissa did the blood flow work on her left foot.
Then Melissa had her stand on her left leg. She was really wobbly and was only able to do it for a eight seconds. The day before she was able to stand for thirteen seconds. Melissa said its because her legs are tired and sore from working three days in a row especially after having a week off.
Then Melissa put a pound weight on her leg and had her lift her leg sideways. She said the weight would force her to use her butt muscle. Melissa said that there are many muscles that Amaya uses to compensate for her lack of muscle in her butt. Melissa said she can tell just by looking at her what muscles she's using instead of her butt muscle. She said its a hard muscle to isolate because there are so many that Amaya can and has been compensating with.
Then she had her do a crab walk. It was hard for Amaya to bend her left leg. You can see how much she bends her right leg. the left leg comes nowhere close to that. Melissa had her slow down to try to get her left leg to bend past the right foot. But she had a hard time doing that and keeping her butt off the floor. I could tell amaya was tired and worn out. But she didn't give up. She just kept on going. After that Amaya told Melissa that her knee hurt so Melissa massaged it for her before moving on to the next exercise. While she massaged it Melissa touched Amaya's bottom pin sites. The top left one was really sensitive to the touch.
Melissa tied Amaya's knees to help keep them aligned while she squatted.
Then Melissa had Amaya work on the elliptical. This picture is blurry but you can see Amaya's face is grimacing in pain.
Then I told her to smile for Rory and she did. I'm always amazed how she can smile through pain and tough times. But she really wanted to send an encouraging picture to Rory who is working hard in Florida. Amaya worked for five minutes and did 2/10 of a mile. She's gotten as high as 1/4 mile before.
Amaya's knee measured at 95 degrees to start. She jumped to 98, 102, 103 where it started to hurt a lot. Melissa had it stretch and breath through the pain. Then Amaya got up to 107. Melissa asked her if she wanted to go to 110. Amaya said, "yeah, okay, go for it." Then she got 109 then 111 degrees! Melissa held it there to let it stretch. Melissa mentioned that Amaya's knee looked puffy and that I should ice it for ten minutes at home.
When we got home there was a message from Marilou telling me she tracked down the referrals and was processing them. She ordered rush orders on them. I called her to thank her for her help and efforts. She was so kind and checked on the orders while I was on the phone with her. She said the orders for the plastic surgeon were already approved (within a few hours). She got Amaya a referral to a pediatric plastic surgeon at Loma Linda Children's hospital which I appreciate her doing. She said the referral for the boot was finally received and submitted (it had been faxed to the Yucaipa office instead of the Redlands one all this time) and they should receive and answer on Monday. She said it will be handled through an office in Redlands so we should be able to get it quickly once its approved. She also said that the referral for the opthamologist was approved and we should be able to call over and schedule an appointment.I called the eye doctors office and they said the doctor was reviewing the notes and deciding what to do. He had already left for the day and would be out on Monday so we should hear from them later next week. Marilou still hadn't received the orders for continued physical therapy (they had to go to Dr. Nelson's office then to Amaya's pediatrician first). But she made a note to keep an eye out for it and to make sure its processed before her last appointment on the fourteenth. I let her know how much I appreciated all her help and efforts. She's amazing. She thanked me for my patience and wished us a happy new year. She was sympathetic to all the new referrals we were needing and said she had hoped things would be easing up for us. I said "me too." Then thanked her and wished her a happy new year.
Even thought we don't have any referrals in hand yet, or any appointments scheduled or a boot in hand I know things are finally in motion, so I'm a bit more relaxed, very thankful and optimistic.
Later in the evening I iced Amaya's knee, which she didn't really enjoy at first. Later she asked me to ice it again because it hurt. At bedtime she said her knee hurt but she fell asleep without pain medication. But she woke up in pain about twenty minutes later. I massaged her knee until she fell asleep then she stayed asleep the entire night.
Thanks again for reading along and caring about Amaya and her journey. And keep sending loving thoughts Rory's way.
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