Friday we had an eight a.m. therapy session. Which meant getting up extra early for us all. We had to leave by seven fifteen to make sure we made it on time. Since her session was so early I had her wear her ankle weight to help stretch her knee on the drive down. The nice thing about an early session is that Josh was able to come with us. He usually misses most sessions because of work, but when the session is this early he gets to come and only be a few minutes late for work. When we got there Melissa asked Amaya how her hip was doing and if the tape helped at all. Amaya said her hi was doing good and that any pain she felt was minimal. This was great news! After a week of intense pain I'm relieved, glad and thankful for some pain relief for Amaya. Melissa gave me some tape and told me how to put it on over the weekend. I'm going to tape it later today. So I'll let you know how that goes.
She started with five minutes on the elliptical.
Then Melissa had her work on this machine. She's never used it before. She had ten pound on there. It helped develop control and her muscles.
Then she did some ladder work. Notice the shinny pants? She just picked them this week so that her and Lidie could match. You can see Lidie sporting hers on the mat while she plays.
Then Amaya walked on the balance beam four times. She walked to one end, picked up a bowling pin, carried it to the other side, then dropped it.
After walking with the bowling pins Melissa had her step over blocks while she walked on the balance beam. She did really well with this.
Then Melissa and Amaya raced across the room. Amaya was on the red scooter using her legs to pull herself forward and push herself backwards.
Then Melissa had Amaya lift her left leg backwards. Do you see how high it it? That's about as high as she's been able to get it at therapy the past few weeks. But, today she was able to lift it straight back! It's the highest she's been able to lift it! Melissa and I noticed and were quite happy. It shows that Amaya's muscles are getting stronger. Remember this is the same muscle she had atrophy in and was very weak. Its so great seeing her improve. This is one of the exercises we do nightly with her therapy homework. It looks like all that homework and hard work is paying off!
You can see how high this is compared to the photo above.
Then Melissa and Amaya did some crab walking. Amaya did good, but still had a hard time keeping her butt off the ground.
Then came knee bends. Her goal for the day was 135 (two more than the day before). I figured it was doable, but since it was so early in the morning I worried she might not get it. Her starting bend was 118 (same as the day before) then she got 122. Then jumped by four degrees to 126 then to 130. At this point she was in a lot of pain. You can see by her face how intense it is. Melissa asked her if she wanted to keep going, and Amaya said, "I'll try." With determination and willingness to try she got her knee to 135 degrees! Not only is it the highest she's gotten since we started in November its also the highest she's gotten since her fixator was first put on last March. When we started therapy up after having the fixator removed (the fixator was removed October 17th and we started therapy up again in late November) Melissa said that 135 degrees would be a long term goal for Amaya. At that point she was able to get to ninety degrees. She also said that at 135 degrees it makes walking, running, etc. easier. This was a big day! Reaching a long term goal was great. Its so nice to see that all the time, energy, hard work, effort, and sacrifices are paying off.
Once we walked outside she was all smiles. Then started the "I did it! I did it!" dance and chant. Then Lidie said, "my sister did it! My sister did it!" It was cute to see their joy.
Afterwards Josh took Amaya to school, but made a stop at the donut shop for a celebratory treat for Amaya. I took Lidie to the dentist. While we were there their dentist asked how Amaya was doing. I filled him in on how great she's doing. He was so excited to hear that. The dental assistant listened but had no clue what we were talking about. It hit me that there will be so many people who have no clue what Amaya has been through. Looking at her or talking to her or meeting her later in life they won't know what she has endured, achieved, and overcome. We know. She'll know. She will always have this strength in her. She can look back with pride and remember all she's endured. In life she will use these attributes. She will always have her strength, courage, resilience, endurance, joy, ability to set goals, and to constantly push herself. She will know how to count on others, to ask for help, to seek the best treatment options, to empathize. And that's who people will see, even if they never saw her fixator. She's amazing.
Being silly in the car with Lidie's Madagascar wig that uncle Juan gave the girls.
After school I called the orthotist to make sure the boot came in before we made the twenty minute trip over there. There was no answer so I decided to head over and give them the benefit of the doubt since they had assured me it would be there by eleven a.m. When we got there they apologized saying there was a problem with the shipping company and the boot was not there. I was furious. This is the fourth time we've gone there. This is going on two months now waiting for that boot. I was in shock. The guy was very apologetic and offered to meet at the office over the weekend, but I told him that would only be adding to the times we've gone, and the gas we've wasted trying to get it. So now we have another appointment for Monday to try to get the boot. Ugh.
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