Clowns and Clonus

Thought I was going to miss a day didn't you?

More PT/OT today, like everyday. When I left Lauren, she was peddling the bicycle with her hands. Not a real bike, just a machine on the desktop that resembles bike pedals. We got a late start though, due to ablutions, knots in pant drawstrings, meds, etc. Kate the OT was patient though. Everything takes twice as long.

DK came by and caught us in the room. His exam showed that she is getting stronger in every facet. With all the exercise she is getting, she is definitely going to rock the beach this summer. We need to put some skin back on her bones though. She lost 10 pounds over the surgery month. Every girls dream right? Well when you are 5'8" tall and 107 pounds it is not good. Lauren said her hip-bones look like daggers. She called them gross. Like everything else, we will make this right.

McDonald's gift cards kindly accepted. If Ronald can't put some meat on your bones, who can? (see Super Size Me)

DK's tests showed her arms are both strong and her left leg is progressing nicely. She is doing well at independently lifting her knee towards her chin, and is also doing well at lifting her whole leg off the ground. She cannot lift her toes off the ground and when you do it manually she has Clonus, which is an involuntary twitching caused because her calf muscles are too tight (too much tone they call it, which seems a contradiction to me). DK said if they cannot resolve the Clonus through exercise, it could hamper her progress. If that were to be the case they will inject her calf with Botox, which will relax the muscles and allow the other muscles to become stronger. I know, Botox? I thought people used that to tighten things. I guess it tightens skin, but loosens muscle. Anyway, I think the goal is to loosen the overworking muscles (which the brain has put into panic mode) and allow the muscles that are being dominated to do their job.

She got into the pool today too. With flippers! 5 weeks ago she was working towards her lifesaving certification.

Went to see her friends on 7W today and had an Ophthalmologist appointment today too.