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Friday, February 20, 2004

Be ready to be amazed:

So, today is Linda's first day of therapy. We started with occupational therapy, who helped me dress her and do her first transfer to a wheelchair. I think getting to wear a bra again was probably her favorite part, and she'll probably learn to use her arms again just to slap me for telling you that. the wheelchair was pretty exhausting, but at least she was able to get out of her room for a bit.

We had a break and then the speech therapists came. Linda can vocalize voluntarily now. So, to help distinguish yes from no, they had her practice vocalizing with her up eye movements. It's probably no surprise that Linda was a pretty quick study. There were some very fun moments. The asked her to smile and the corners of her mouth turned up. The asked her to open her mouth, which she can do some, and then asked her to try and say ma-ma-ma-ma. She can't quite do it, but you can see her mouth and jaw moving when she tries. We did a little spelling with a letter chart I designed for her and that worked really well too.

The physical therapist came for a short session since Linda was tired from the wheelchair earlier. He's going to come back this afternoon after some rest, but while he was here he did some evaluation. Linda did a beautiful toe curl with her left foot and was able to grab his finger with her toes. She laughed out loud when she did it.

She resting now, and I'm going to get some lunch. After lunch, the PT is coming back and we're going into the wheelchair again. She has a nicer model than this morning to try out, and they really want to help her build the endurance needed to sit.