Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Hello, everyone! Now that I have learned how to post pictures, I thought I would post these cute pictures of Sydney taken for her Drama class at school. (Scott Hancock, Daniel's Dad, took these pictures).

I would also like to update you on the last couple of days. We have been so happy to have Sydney at home! She has found that living at home is great therapy! She climbs stairs at least 3 times a day, goes through her exercise routine every morning and night; and yesterday for her walking practice we went shopping at WalMart and Kohlers! I'm sure everyone at the stores thought I was a pretty mean mom, as she had to open the doors, get the items off the shelf, etc. Tonight she raked leaves with the youth as part of a service project, which really worked her core muscles! All of these activities strengthen her balance, so the OT's encourage me to have her do as much as possible as it strengthens all of her muscle groups. This does wear her out, so we have to give her time to rest at home to recover. We are trying to establish a routine of getting her heavy workouts completed the first half of the day; taking time to rest, and then studying in the afternoon. We would like to get Sydney caught up on first term, and then second term, as she would like to attend 1-2 classes at some point.

Yesterday we had our follow-up visit with Dr. Maughan, who is the neurosurgeon who operated on Sydney after she was brought to the emergency room. We are so grateful that he sacrificed a night of sleep to come to the hospital and use his skills to repair her back! I will post the pictures of the x-rays after I can figure out how to read the format of the files. When he saw Sydney he said something like "It is so wonderful to see you walk into my office and not be in a wheelchair!" He is so happy she has had such an amazing recovery! We asked him when Sydney could stop wearing her TLSO brace (we call it the turtle brace). He said that at this point she could take it off now for periods of time, which is so wonderful as it will give Sydney a new level of independence! Before, Sydney could not get out of bed without me helping her get the brace on, as she could not be in an upright position without it. Dr. Maughan says she should still use it as needed for support (her back muscles will not be very strong yet), for protection (especially in public places where someone may bump her), and as a reminder to her body to not move in an inappropriate way. Today Sydney went without her brace for a good portion of the day and it felt so liberating! But at the same time she was quite sore by the evening so we put it back on.

Today we went to Cottonwood for her outpatient rehab eval. Jason will be Sydney's PT, and Nikki will be her OT. We will take Sydney to Salt Lake 2 times a week for rehab, and then work with her at home the other 4 days. This way we can get outpatient therapy through March. Today they did evals measuring Sydney's strength and endurance. Next week they will review our home therapy/workout routine and modify it as needed. After next week, Grandma Joyce will drive Sydney to rehab so I can start back to work part-time, working from home. This next couple of weeks we'll try to figure out a routine where I would be able to work while Sydney rests, studies or does the exercises she can do on her own. I'll build in a breakfast and lunch break so I can take her walking. (We are still figuring this out!) Meanwhile we are going to enjoy the next 2 weeks as it is really fun to go walking together, to workout, and otherwise talk about life in general and figure out how to be independent at home!

We are so grateful for your love, support and prayers! (For now you can focus your prayers on Sydney's overall recovery and especially her right foot :) It really does make a difference when you know everyone is praying for you and supporting you! Sydney is so grateful to everyone! She is especially grateful to the Lord for his mercy in healing her.