12/20/07

Amanda had a good day today. This week has been absolutely wonderful for her. Today she showed a little spunk and independence in terms of what she was willing to do (but there was also a storm front coming through and she seems to be stronger willed on those days). She is definitely finishing strong though. Tomorrow she gets her cast off and does her final testing, then we head toward home. We should be home by mid-day on Saturday. It will be nice to be home again with Dan and Katie. Nana will be happy to get back to see Papa too.

Nana deserves a medal for spending a month with me and Amanda and missing her 49th anniversary with Papa. Instead of being together for their 49th, Nana was hanging out in Birmingham and Papa took Katie Christmas shopping in Wilmington and out to dinner. I think his wallet was quite a bit lighter after the experience. Dan and Papa definitely deserve medals for living as bachelors for the last month. I think it was harder on Papa than Dan because Nana is a really good cook.

We truly can not say enough wonderful things about the UAB staff. Dory, Mary Rebekah, and Stephanie are tremendous at what they do. They care deeply about the kids they work with and really push them to achieve their potential. They also went above and beyond the call of duty with a couple glitches we had while we were here -- THANK YOU DORY, MARY REBEKAH and STEPHANIE. We would do the program all over again if given the chance. In fact, we are already looking at future dates.

We get to go home with a home program to help us build on all the skills Amanda has gained while here. We also have hours and hours of video to help guide us through all the techniques and drills to use. We are excited to continue the therapies on our own at home. We will get to bring her cast with us and use it when we want to do so. We also bought Amanda a bunch of the cause and effect toys that she really enjoyed using during therapy.

If I get a minute to post tomorrow I will. Otherwise, I will be back in touch when we get back to Wilmington. I hope you all have a very wonderful CHRISTmas and a tremendous New Year. I will keep posting fairly regularly but I wanted to wish you those things early in case you have travel plans for the holidays. God Bless!
Susan