Sweet Day

Ray spent the night with his princess last night, which meant that I could spend the day with her refreshed and ready to have some fun. We got out her art supplies and went to town, coloring and writing and using the prettiest stickers. She also wanted to watched her reading program videos, which I welcomed as a chance to sit down for a minute.

At the time she was laying on her left side, so as the words "arms up" and "arms down" came on I watched her raise her right arm and bring it down. At first I thought it was a fluke, but she did it each time the words came. Woo-hoo! In planning for this surgery I had envisioned months, truly - months, of her being kind of zoned out with pain and/or meds, and really regressing in the cognitive skills she has gained. Have I mentioned that thankfully, I am often wrong? (Please don't pass that quote to my husband, though:)!

She is also becoming very good again at using her voice to let us know what she needs, as in "Hellooooo, I am awake over here," and "Thanks for reading to me, I really like this book." The sounds she makes are little sing-song notes now, so sweet.

The last dose of Tylenol she took was yesterday morning, so she is completely off traditional pain meds. I am using a couple of homeopathic remedies (Traumeel and Spascupreel) and running the Biomodulator around the clock, which is keeping her really comfortable. But, I am surprised at how well she is handling the discomfort. We even put her on her tummy a few times today --definitely a two person operation! This gave us a chance to clean her cast and dry her out with my hair dryer set on cool. Her skin is looking great. In fact, the bandaging over the incision where they worked on the adductors (inner thigh muscles) has come off already, so we can see that the scar has closed completely and cleanly. I am hoping that all the ones that we can't see yet look as good.

We are halfway to Cast-Off Day already! I am anxious to see her "new legs" and get to work on moving them again. But, for today I was just so blessed to sit with her, enjoy her being very present, reading and talking and playing and praying. I feel so fortunate that God chose us to be Abbie's family.