Nixon loved physical therapy

     Yesterday we got to watch my almost five month old nephew, Nixon. He got to come with us to therapy and loved it. People were talking to him, saying how cute he is, and he loved watching the girls play in the gym. I wondered how I would do with three kids at therapy, but it was actually quite easy. As we waited for Melissa I massaged Amaya's knee and noticed that she wasn't as sensitive to touch anymore. Amaya has been massaging her scars often and its showing. When we let Melissa know she was happy to hear it. 

    When Amaya walked into the adults gym Ron, one of the therapists, mentioned how good Amaya looked walking. He said she looked great and asked if she felt better. Amaya said yes and thanked him for his kindness. I really appreciate the kindness, care and concern of all the therapists there.  Several people have mentioned that they notice an improvement in Amaya, especially since she started therapy last week. I always thank them and let them know that its not only the therapy sessions, but the daily therapy homework that she does. We squeeze it in daily and make sure she doesn't miss a day. She uses her walker about 99% of the time (except for really long walks then she uses her wheelchair) to practice walking. She walks into therapy and out of it. When she's tired you can tell because she'll drag her left leg. But even then she doesn't complain of pain.  

    Before bed Amaya asked em to massage her foot. She said her big toe was hurting her (up to a five). I massaged it and then she fell asleep, without any problem. She still hasn't asked for any pain medication since she started thearapy. She's working hard, but not to the point where its hurting her. Its great. 

Amaya started on this machine. She did really well bending her leg. Melissa reminded her to straighten her leg as much as she could so that she worked on both bending and straightening her legs.

Amaya walked forward and back three times lifting 30 lbs. She was a bit wobbly at first, but then got better. As Amaya was working on this machine another therapist asked her, "hey what's missing?" It was the first time he's seen her since she returned to therapy last week. He said she looked good. 

In the kids gym Melissa had Amaya stand on her left leg while touching the cones with her right foot.

Then Melissa rolled the ball toward Amaya and had her kick it back to her several times. On the last one Amaya lost her balance when she stepped on the ball and fell on the ground. Melissa ran to catch her and helped her over to a mat to massage her leg. Amaya said her ankle hurt. It looked like she rolled it. But after a few minutes she was fine and kept on working. 

While Melissa massaged Amaya's foot from her fall Nixon laid on the mat and played. 

Here's Nixon playing with a piano. Isn't he cute?

Amaya jumped on the trampoline on the way to the ladder. As she jumped off of it she fell down onto her knees. As she walked over the ladder steps she lost her balance once and fell for the third time. 

Then Melissa put the ladder up on the wall and had Amaya climb up and down in five times. She did pretty good with that. 

Nixon was staring at the girls. Amaya was busy working and Lidie was playing (running, laughing, riding the scooter, etc.). He was very entertained.

Here's what he was staring at. Melissa had Amaya bend her knee as Melissa held a blue band against it. She had Amaya bend her knee all the way until it touched the blue mat. After ten bends Amaya could fall back into the ball pit. She did three sets and loved it.

Melissa had Amaya work on this machine for the first time. Amaya worked hard to get the hang of it. She was going slow at first, but Melissa was happy that she did so well on it. Melissa said that she worried the stride would be too tough for Amaya, but since Amaya is so tall she did okay.

Here she is at the end of her five minutes on the machine. She was going faster and smoother. 

To measure Amaya's knee bend Melissa had Amaya lay down. She said this way she could use her own muscles to create the bend not her body weight (like when she was squatting). First she had her do her knee work with the band (when we tie it around the knees and she pulls her knees apart). Then she had her bend her knees more then do ten more stretches. Amaya got her knee to ninety degrees on her own and after the second set (after she got her knees to bend more) she was able to get up to 98 degrees. I asked Melissa if Amaya's left knee will regain its flexibility and catch up to the right one (it gets up to 159 degrees). She said yes.