On our own!

Its been a bit of a crazy week around here. Everyone has been sick. Last Thursday morning Emily woke up with what I thought at the time was Pink Eye so I put a call into her PT at Shriner's to let him know that we wouldn't be there for our sessions on Thursday or Friday. When I spoke to him he told me that the timing of my phone call was perfect in that he had been awake during the night thinking about Emily's progress and that he was of the opinion that Emily didn't need to continue with intensive therapy any longer and that we could start our weekly visits from then on. We discussed it a bit further and, with the understanding that I could call at any time and schedule additional sessions if I felt it was necessary, I agreed to give her a week and a half of work at home before we would return to the hospital.

On Friday I ended up taking Emily to the doctor for her Pink Eye only to find out it wasn't Pink Eye at all. She had a sinus infection that was draining through her eyes. As I thought about... I realized that my precious little girl had been walking the halls of the hospital for the past week and half sick and not feeling well. She was such a good sport I had no idea she was sick. Needless to say... we left the doctor with an antibiotic and she is feeling much better now.

We are walking several times a day at home. At first it didn't go so well (because she wasn't feeling well), but now she is tolerating it nicely. I try to fit in two, one-hour sessions each day just like we were doing at the hospital. When I can't do that I break it up into three mini sessions. I found a computer chair on wheels so that I can scoot around behind her and help her to advance her walker and then to swing each leg through to initiate the next step. Though she is making progress it is slow and gradual. I hold on to the fact that someday she will no longer need assistance to take a step and that she will one day be able to do it all by herself. Though it seems off in the distance now, I know that time will come all too quickly so for now I cherish the fact that my daughter needs me to hold onto her and take each step with her.