Fighting colds

    This week our family has been fighting colds. Amaya had it first. Thankfully it only lasted a couple of days. Lidie has had one for almost an entire week now. Her and I stayed home from therapy Wednesday and Thursday this week to let her recover and so that we didn't get other people sick. Yesterday I started to have some cold like symptoms myself, which I guess is expected since I've been around her coughing, sneezy, boogery self this entire time. I didn't like missing two days of therapy, but I was glad Josh was able to go with her. And it was important that I stay and take care of Lidie. 

    Before we left I made some calls (again). And finally got an appointment for Amaya to get her boot to wear to help her heel heal. She won't get it until Tuesday (three weeks after her wound doctor requested it). I called the wound doctor to ask if they still wanted to see her on Thursday since she won't get the boot until Tuesday (he wanted her to wear it two to three weeks before he saw her again to see if it helped). The nurse said to go ahead and keep the appointment anyway. Amaya has been wearing the sponge like material daily and says it helps a lot. She says her heel is still very sensitive and doesn't let us touch it. We still need to schedule our appointment with the plastic surgeon and eye doctor. We are still waiting for our new prescription for physical therapy to be processed and approved. Melissa checked on it yesterday and they told her that the prescription wasn't taken over until this Wednesday and they still needed to get Dr. Nelson's signature before the referral can be processed. Waiting is frustrating, and tough. Especially when you're on a time crunch.

    When we got to therapy yesterday I felt like we had been gone for so long. Lidie hadn't gone in over a week and I'm glad she got a small break to stay home to play and recover. She's only four years old and still enjoys lots of free time at home. Throughout this entire process she's been such a good sport.
   On the way to therapy Amaya wore her ankle weight the entire time. She said she wants to get her knee to 135 degrees. I told her that Melissa said it might be two weeks before she got there (on Thursday she got 121! Her highest number yet!) Melissa said that 135 degrees is average for walking. Amaya is excited that she's seeing results and wants to wear her ankle weight all the time.      

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Amaya walked in without her walker (she hasn't used it all week!). Melissa said she was walking really good so she had Amaya start on the elliptical. Amaya had really good momentum and speed. In five minutes she went over a quarter mile. That's great! 

Lidie asked me to take a picture of her. She's a ham, but a cute one. 

Then she asked for one of us both. 

Melissa had Amaya do some side leg lifts to help work the muscles that help keep your leg straight. Amaya had a hard time with the lowering so Melissa helped hold her leg for that part. I take for granted how many muscles are involved in walking. I don't have to think about it. I just get up and move, but Amaya has to work all of her muscles to be able to walk. As I watch her I appreciate all that we take for granted; like walking, climbing stairs and running. And I'm in awe of hard she works for it.

Then Melissa had her flip on her tummy to do leg lifts. Amaya had a hard time with this. I told Melissa that when we do this at home Amaya has a hard time lifting her leg. She usually lifts her hips with it and I have to hold them down for her. Melissa said gravity plays a part in it when she's laying on the ground. 

She had her doing it standing up, but Amaya was using her front hip muscles to do the work. Then she had Amaya lean over the mat to do it. This was easier for Amaya. Melissa said we should try to do it like this at night. Melissa said that this way it helps eliminate using the other muscles.

Melissa did this stretch to see if Amaya's front hip was tight. She said it was, most likely because it hasn't been used. She said that her modified walk, that she's been doing, caused it. 

Melissa taught us this stretch to do at home each night to help stretch them out. There are so many muscles at work here. 

Out in the hallway Melissa had Amaya (and Lidie joined in) walk with high knees. 

Amaya took turns kicking with her right and left leg. See how steadily she stands on her right leg to kick, she's much more wobbly on her left, but she's got a strong kick. Amaya is looking forward to playing soccer soon, so she likes these exercises. 

Then Amaya had to stand on her left leg while throwing balls into the ball pit. She did pretty good.

 

I let Melissa know that each night Amaya complains of pain in her right foot (in the middle of the foot). It use to be once in a while, then every other night, but now its nightly. When I'm putting her to bed I massage her knee and squeeze and massage her foot. Melissa massaged it for awhile and asked me to keep massaging it at night. She checked Amaya's foot and said that it doesn't feel tight compared to most people's feet, but considering how flexible Amaya is the foot does feel a bit tight. She said she'll check it again next week and keep and eye on it. 

Then Amaya did a golfers bend, squats and walked over cones. When she was on the ground picking stuff up Melissa pointed out that her knee was at ninety degrees easily.

    Then came knee bends. Amaya's knee started at 105 degrees the same as Thursday. That's her highest starting number since we started physical therapy back in March! Melissa asked Amaya what her goal was for the day. Thursday she got her knee to 121 degrees! Melissa told us that she had emailed Dr. Nelson to share how well Amaya was doing. He responded and said, "that's great! Thanks for the update." Amaya settled on 123 (in honor of Melissa and Josh's birth dates). Amaya worked hard and got to 109, at that point she was in pain. I told Melissa that we've been working on knee bends and holding the stretch at night and she was happy to hear that. After a few minutes of hard work Amaya reached her goal of 123! Amaya was in pain, but Melissa held the stretch for eighteen seconds. Amaya had a hard time breathing through the pain. 

Remember Amaya's painting she did back in the Fall that sold at the PossAbilities dinner for $55? Well it was featured in the PossAbilites magazine. Cool, huh?