Linam Family Update - June 24

Did you catch the new title? It's actually Abby's suggestion. Over the last few weeks I've been struggling with how much "you really want to know," with respecting Abby's need for some privacy, and, as you know, with finding time to write! But it was a conversation with Abby this weekend that made me see that it's time to move forward and leave some things behind.

I can see that, more and more, she's dealing with her accident and the effects that it has had on her life, and she is moving forward. She knows that she's "sick" of therapy, that she doesn't like hospitals (she's not looking forward to the minor surgery scheduled for July 30 to remove a part of her feeding tube), and that she still has problems with her memory, but you know what? Mostly, she knows that she just wants everyone to treat her like a "normal kid." When she told me that this week I knew it was the answer to some of my questions, and, together, we decided that this blog should now just be the story of our family. (And I decided that I'd go to bed earlier and just offer you a weekly update on Sunday evenings...!)

And so, here's the weekly "wrap" on our family news. As Frank was finishing his final day of basketball camp on Friday (he received the camp award for "Team Player," an honor of which I'm very proud), I took Abby to her therapy session. It was my first time to sit in on a session, and it was pretty insightful. The therapy, which uses a program called "Interactive Metronome," requires Abby to perform several motor tasks rhythmically following a tone generated by a computer. It's a "cutting edge" treatment approach and, in many cases, has been shown to improve the brain's efficiency or processing speed, along with benefits to memory and many motor responses. All I can say is that it's challenging (which seems to be important in brain therapy)--I did a terrible job when Abby's therapist let me try the simplest of the exercises! Similar treatments have also been used to counter cognitive declines associated with aging, so maybe I need to sign up for more sessions!!!!

Finally, I want to close this post with a huge "thank-you" to those of you who have been reading this blog for so long. I am humbled that you have poured out your care on us and on Abby. Your love and prayers have held us up and helped heal Abby to this point. Although right now she is weary of being the "girl that was in the accident" I will never stop telling her of the people who cried for her, prayed for her, cheered for her, and shared our great, great joy. As your reward, I want to share these two photos--one from October, 2006; one from Vacation Bible School last week. I think they say it all...Praise God.













Love,
Lee Ann, Gordon, Abby & Frank Linam