Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sydney had another fantastic day today! Lance decided to increase the challenge. Why just walk down a hall? Sydney climbed up and down stairs holding to rails. Although this was very hard, she did a great job! Lance also took her outside to practice stepping over a curb and onto a sidewalk with the assistance of canes. Although this was also very hard, she did very well! So many muscles to train!

Speaking of muscles, Lance had Sydney practice standing and sitting, and also had her work on strengthening her core muscles by kneeling on the mat in front of a big plastic ball while her mom hit balloons to her. She also practiced getting out of her chair and crawling up onto a raised mat. We are so grateful to have a therapist who knows what he is doing! He knows how to zero right in on areas to strengthen!

In OT, Ron let Sydney cook her spaghetti dinner! Delicious! You gain a new appreciation for everyday mundane tasks when you see how much effort it takes for someone without full strength and abilities! Altogether, this took about 2 hours (4, 30 minute sessions). Of course much of this time was spent learning how to go about a task (for example, how do you get a big pot full of water and onto the stove?)

We believe Sydney will come home October 30th (Halloween – one of her favorite holidays!) We are looking into outpatient rehab facilities to take her to once she gets home. We'll know more in a week or two. Meanwhile, they told us she can have an overnight “pass” to come home on a weekend to explore how we manage in the home environment. That will be fun to have her home for a night!

For those of you taking a vacation over Fall break – have a great time!