Therapy Therapy Therapy....

Callie, Sammy, and I took the trek and are once again living out of someone else's home for a month so Sammy can attend Now I Can.  I know it's good and I see results when we're here, but to be honest, I have not been looking forward to this trip.  I'm tired.  I'm a bit worn out.  And I miss Marcus when we're apart so long.  But, I know it's good for her, and now that we're here, I'm in therapy mode and things are moving right along.

Today was Sammy's first day...evaluation day.  I was encouraged to see that she was doing things that she couldn't do before.  Already, she is laying down flat on her tummy without being forced...which means she is relaxing her muscles enough to spread out like that...she's able to sit on her own with her legs out...which means her balance has improved...and she didn't cry today while they were doing some minor stuff with her. This is all an encouraging start.

Though Sammy and I were slammed with colds and Callie (who has fallen asleep in time out) is already spent and extremely tired...I think it'll be a good 4 weeks.

I pulled her out of bed this morning to drive down to Provo for the therapy.  This is her happy morning face.  I love it.

When she first went down, her arms were stretched out like Super Man.  Awesome.  I have never seen her just lay down like this outside of the bath tub.  By the time I ran to get my camera, she was getting up on her elbows, but she stayed like this for a bit.

Sitting up.  Not perfect, but according to their notes last time, when she came she couldn't sit up at all without falling back.

Sammy on the move.

Getting her suit fitted so it'll be ready for her first thing tomorrow morning.  

Look at all those cords!

When Mitch got the suit on her, she just stayed on the ground for awhile.  We couldn't get her to get up and move....it was as if she was reorienting her body, trying to remember and figure it all out.  But then she got up and started moving. I have a good feeling about this sesssion.

As a side note, there is a new director at Now I Can.  Michael Ririe is the photographer who took pictures of Sammy and others at Now I Can to try to educate the community about the therapy.  He also created a photographic book, which is beautiful, filled with pictures of these kids and some written words from family members.  He is the new director and it was fun to see him again in this new role.  When I saw him, he gave me an enlarged black and white photograph of Sammy that he had taken and that was used in his exhibit ... it was also the photo that the news used as one of their close-ups and background picture to talk about the story.  Mike said he had many people talk to them about this photo of Sammy...he said it was one of his favorites....and that just made my heart melt.  Sammy is such a sweetheart, and I love having this photograph of her.  I need to find a pretty black frame for it to put up...and then get a great black and white of Callie to have next to it.

There have been other changes at Now I Can.  They have expanded and have 1 more therapy room as well as another therapist.  I'm not sure, yet, how this will affect Sammy.  We are in the new room...which at first I didn't like.  I felt so removed because it's kind of in the back.  But, as we were there working on things, I thought that this smaller room is actually kind of perfect.  It's quieter, and I won't get distracted by what's going on around the place.

My lack of excitement is quickly being replaced by motivation and an eagerness to work and see what Sammy has in her this time around.