Abby update - December 13

Today was a much better day for Abby. She seemed to feel a lot better, although she was tired again in the evening. This morning she again worked with a therapy dog--a pretty female golden retriever named "Q.T." (get it?), who has a neat trick of picking up dirty clothes off the floor and putting them in the washing machine (now there's a trick I want Arby to learn!). The therapist who arranges the sessions with the dogs also shows dogs herself, so she was getting Abby engaged today by asking her to give the obedience commands, including hand signals--much more fun than regular old therapy!

However, regular old therapy was pretty fun today as well. Abby made oatmeal cookies in Occupational Therapy, and then in PT she walked up a flight of stairs to give some to an elderly friend she'd made on the 3rd floor and then walked back down the stairs. She's come a long way with the stairs--they were very difficult for her at first because of her tight calves and achilles tendons, but she handles them pretty well with a little assistance from the PT. Stairs will be an important skill for her at our house, as some of you may know!

I had a good talk with Priscilla's mom yesterday. We've gone through so many of the same emotions, and we're both praying so hard for each other's daughter. It's been about eight weeks since her injury, and she is improving. She is improving in her feeding and in tracking things with her eyes. She hasn't said words, but she's more vocal in other ways than Abby was at that point; however, I know that her mother is worried because she still doesn't have a lot of muscle control. Some of the spasticity has improved, but she still does not hold her head upright, so she can't sit, crawl, walk, etc. Please pray for these issues, and, as Rosa says, that we can both be patient in faith...

Thanks for all your prayers--we've had good contacts with our plans for follow-up therapy and schooling in our home, so those are praises, but sometimes we feel like there's still much to be done before December 20 (It wouldn't hurt to offer a prayer or two for Mike and Andrea Oldmixon, who are coordinating the repairs on our home...) [grin] (thanks Mike & Andrea!).

Love,
-the Linams